Anthropic CEO slams US nod for Nvidia AI chip export to China, compares it with ’selling nuclear weapons to North Korea’

The CEO of leading AI company Anthropic on Tuesday warned against the Trump administration’s recent decision to allow Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, likening the move to selling nuclear weapons technology to North Korea.

Speaking at a panel discussion on artificial general intelligence (AGI) in Davos, Dario Amodei said shipping such powerful chips risks giving China the computing power needed to develop super-intelligent artificial intelligence and potentially has far-reaching national security implications, AP reported.

“You know, are we going to sell nuclear weapons to North Korea and because it will bring some profit to Boeing?” Amodei said.

Anthropic’s CEO isn’t the only one voicing concerns. Saif Khan, who served as technology and national security director at the White House National Security Council under former US President Joe Biden, also warned that the rule would significantly increase China’s artificial intelligence capabilities: Reuters reported.

‘It threatens humanity’ – Amodei on emerging artificial intelligence technology

Artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic, are racing to develop AGI, systems reportedly capable of surpassing human intelligence, the news agency reported Tuesday, although he noted that such technologies could also carry risks that could threaten humanity.

“This analogy should make clear how I see this trade-off,” he added, referring to the Trump administration’s decision to greenlight Nvidia to export advanced AI chips to Beijing.

Trump approves export of Nvidia AI chips

The Trump administration last week approved the sale of Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chips to China and likely imposed a rule that would start shipping the H200, despite deep concerns among China hawks in Washington. Reuters reported.

Under the regulations, the chips will be examined by a third-party testing laboratory to verify their technical AI capabilities before being exported to Beijing, which receives no more than 50% of the total amount of chips sold to American customers.

This green light eases Biden-era restrictions that blocked the sale of advanced AI chips to China. However, the Trump administration argues that this move is strategically necessary.

White House AI czar David Sacks believes allowing controlled exports of Nvidia and AMD chips could deter heavily sanctioned Chinese rivals such as Huawei from accelerating efforts to develop competing advanced chip designs while maintaining U.S. companies’ market dominance.