Washington is threatening to sanction Chinese AI models. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang just told Axios something very different. In an exclusive interview in Fort Worth, Texas on July 21, Huang said US companies should be "absolutely" allowed to use open-source Chinese AI models. He went further: the odds that Chinese firms drive American companies out of business are zero.
Huang's answer was one word: "Absolutely." US firms should be allowed to use Chinese AI.
Huang's comments read like a direct warning to hawks in Washington pushing for a ban. The trigger was Moonshot AI's July 16 release of Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter model and now the world's largest open-source system. Its aggressive pricing and upcoming open-weight downloads set off the sharpest wave of AI panic since DeepSeek rattled markets in early 2025. Kimi K3 beat Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 on multiple benchmarks, and chip stocks including Nvidia sold off on fears that cheaper, more efficient models would undercut the massive global bet on AI infrastructure.
The fallout came fast. US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer both spoke out the same day. Bessent told Fox Business that US authorities had found watermarks from American large language models embedded in several Chinese AI systems, calling it "unacceptable" and promising an investigation. Greer said Washington would examine whether China gained its edge through unfair means.
Bessent: “US watermarks found in Chinese AI models.” An investigation is coming
US media reported earlier that the White House is weighing a new executive order to restrict open-source AI, particularly systems from Chinese companies. The Commerce Department had already considered adding several Chinese AI labs to its Entity List last year.
Huang's logic cuts the other way. "The market misunderstood the impact of DeepSeek the first time," he told Axios, adding that Wall Street has "misunderstood the impact of Kimi again this time."
Kimi K3's launch rattled the entire AI industry.
Free, cheap open-source models, according to Huang, let AI reach far more consumers and businesses. That, he argued, drives strong demand for chips, data centers and computing power. "Free AI should be great for hardware," Huang said. "Free AI should be great for chips. Free AI should be great for data centers."
OpenAI and Anthropic have no reason to fear open models either, in Huang's view. Open-source systems expose more people to AI for the first time, which expands the whole market. Many of those users, he added, will still end up paying for the reliability and convenience of closed commercial services.
On security, Huang rejected the idea that downloading a Chinese model opens a backdoor to Beijing. Companies can fully customize and control access inside secure sandbox environments, he said.
Wong argued openness actually works the other way: outside researchers can inspect models, spot weaknesses and build defenses. "If everything just becomes one single model, one single point of attack, one single source of failure, I think the world is much, much more vulnerable."
Huang also called on Anthropic to open up its restricted cybersecurity model, Claude Mythos, rather than keep it locked down. "Holding Anthropic back is not in the benefit of the United States," he said, "Open models are available anyhow. So I think: Let Anthropic run."
On the US-China AI race, Huang staked out a position sharply at odds with Washington's. He rejected the idea that AI competition has a finish line. "We're going to continue to use AI forever," he said. "The United States is going to be here for a long time. China's going to be here for a long time."
Bloomberg cited several analysts drawing a contrast with the 2018 ban on Chinese 5G equipment. Freely downloadable, highly customizable software models have already embedded themselves deep in Silicon Valley's ecosystem. On OpenRouter, a platform offering access to multiple AI models, Chinese models now account for nearly 60% of token usage by US companies.
The adoption numbers back that up. DoorDash, Airbnb and Germany's Siemens have all shifted to Chinese models. More than 80% of US AI startups now make heavy use of Chinese models such as DeepSeek and Zhipu's GLM, with usage share holding above 30%, up from just 11% a year ago.
Nathan Lambert, an AI researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, put it bluntly: any form of ban would be a serious mistake for AI's long-term development.
Morgan Stanley believes the growth cycle in global AI computing demand is far from over. Bernstein estimates that even if Kimi K3 cuts single-run training costs by roughly 40%, competitive pressure pushing firms to double their training frequency could still lift total computing demand by around 20%.
Mao Paishou
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
The world’s first full-size humanoid robot free-fighting league kicked off July 16, at the Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center in Shenzhen. Hosted by robotics company EngineAI, the event immediately sparked global attention and went viral across the internet.
Tesla founder Elon Musk retweeted the spectacle on the social platform X, declaring that "Robot fights are fun." Foreign netizens marveled at the display, with some asking if Chinese robots had evolved into aliens. Many claimed the Chinese are already living in the 22nd century, making the 2011 American sci-fi film Real Steel a gradual reality.
Shenzhen hosts the world’s first humanoid robot fighting league.
The tournament exclusively featured the T800 full-size humanoid robot independently developed by EngineAI. Thirty-two teams from more than 10 countries worldwide competed for a pure gold championship belt worth 10 million RMB. Teams from Tsinghua University, Stanford University, and the University of Hong Kong made appearances in the opening matches. The robots delivered spectacular straight punches, leg sweeps, and side kicks in the ring, leaving the audience thrilled. Martial arts star Donnie Yen, known as the "Strongest in the Universe," attended as a special guest to witness the battles.
Elon Musk hypes the viral video on X: "Robot fights are fun."
The robot fighting tournament drew immense attention from foreign netizens. Many could not even tell whether they were watching a simple ring competition or witnessing the early arrival of a future world.
Contenders square off in the ring.
Kicking Heads and Taking Names
Two humanoid robots slowly approached each other at the referee’s command. One robot executed a 360-degree mid-air spin and landed a precision flying kick to its opponent's head. The massive impact sent both machines crashing to the ground. A split second later, both robots bounced up from the floor almost simultaneously. They immediately resumed their fighting stances to continue the battle.
The matches grew increasingly intense, with one robot continuing to swing its fists and press the attack even after having its head kicked off. The losing robot attempted to stand up time and time again toward the end, but it ultimately failed. Meanwhile, the victorious robot stood in the center of the ring and joyfully performed a celebratory dance.
Global audiences marvel at the mechanical combat.
This sight prompted many foreign netizens to ask "what exactly the Chinese had discovered on the dark side of the moon". One Indian netizen worried that humanity would soon face an all-out war with robots. An American netizen sighed that the Chinese are already living in the 22nd century, turning the movie Real Steel into reality. A Japanese netizen expressed a deep sense of resignation, noting that Japanese robots have not made any progress since the Asimo era.
The Supply Chain Secret
Many foreign netizens wondered why Japan and the United States are constantly having their perceptions refreshed by China, despite starting humanoid robot research much earlier. The reality is that the answer lies in China's comprehensive industrial system. A single robot requires countless core components, including motors, reducers, electronic control systems, chips, sensors, batteries, integrated circuits, and AI algorithms. China has achieved almost complete domestic supply for these entire industry chains. Every single step can be completed swiftly, from design to production and from testing to iteration.
Action star Donnie Yen takes it all in ringside.
In contrast, many foreign robotics companies rely heavily on imported key components. This dependence results in long research cycles, high costs, and lengthy waits for every upgrade. Chinese robotics companies, however, can launch new versions on a nearly periodic basis. The rapid update speed is actively widening the technological gap.
Yen calls the brutal fighting tournament "unbelievable."
Defining the Future
Robots are constantly challenging real-world scenarios, ranging from marathons and football matches to full-scale robot Olympic games. These machines are also beginning to enter the everyday lives of ordinary people. Patrol robots are now on duty on the streets, while others walk with children or accompany the elderly while shopping. They are even busy at work across shopping malls, hospitals, and factories.
China’s high-end manufacturing is repeatedly refreshing the world’s understanding across sectors like aerospace, high-speed rail, new energy vehicles, and humanoid robots. Critics in the past always claimed that China only knew how to imitate and copy. Today, an increasing number of foreign companies are actively studying and rushing to catch up to China.
More and more scenes from sci-fi movies are suddenly appearing in the real world. This rapid evolution shows an increasing number of people that Chinese manufacturing is no longer just catching up with the times. Instead, it is continuously defining the future.
