Anthropic's Dario Amodei raises red flag about sending Nvidia H200 AI chips to China

Dario Amodei went to Davos to tell the world that letting Nvidia sell AI chips to China is a massive national security risk. “It would be a big mistake to ship these chips,” Dario said. “I think this is crazy. It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.”

He said this while speaking live at the World Economic Forum, standing right in front of an audience that included world leaders, CEOs, and policymakers.

This came right after President Donald Trump, who took office again in 2025, started pulling back the U.S. ban on exporting high-end chips to China. That ban had been in place to stop Beijing from getting their hands on U.S. technology to build military AI.

Now it’s being relaxed. And that means Nvidia is about to start selling its H200 processors directly to Chinese buyers. Those chips are among the most powerful legally available for export.

Trump clears export path while Nvidia and AMD race for sales

The H200 was released more than two years ago, but it’s still one of the strongest AI chips made by Nvidia that can legally go to China.

Their latest chips, the Blackwell series and an even newer lineup named after Vera Rubin, are still blocked because of security concerns. But for now, the H200 is on the table.

Dario has warned the Trump administration before. At Davos last year, he said he was worried about “1984 scenarios, or worse,” referencing George Orwell’s novel about total control and surveillance.

This year, his warning was louder. China is still behind in building high-level AI, but Dario says the chip embargo is the main reason why. Lift it, and they’ll catch up.

While Dario pushes for tighter rules, Nvidia’s boss Jensen Huang is optimistic. He said 2026 looks good. “We should have a very good year,” he told press, pointing to deals with Anthropic, demand from Chinese firms, and global AI spending.

Wall Street is already pricing that in. Nvidia is forecasted to pull $321.2 billion in revenue this year, up 57%. By 2027, estimates go beyond $400 billion.

AMD isn’t sitting still either. The company is asking for the green light to sell its MI325X chip to China. They want a slice of the same pie before China builds its own chips. That’s exactly what Nvidia has warned about: that blocking China only delays what they’ll eventually do themselves.

At a JPMorgan event, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said demand isn’t just from AI anymore. She said companies are spending big on data processing. “That $500 billion has definitely gotten larger,” she said, hinting that global investment in advanced computing could hit multiple trillions by 2030.

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