Anthropic CEO criticises Nvidia chip exports to China at Davos

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei delivered a blunt critique of the US administration and chipmakers over the decision to allow the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips and AMD processors to approved Chinese buyers.

The approval came last week after the administration reversed an earlier ban, sparking controversy due to the high-performance AI capabilities of the chips.

Amodei expressed disbelief at the policy, warning it could have severe national security consequences. 

“We are many years ahead of China in terms of our ability to make chips,” he said. “So I think it would be a big mistake to ship these chips.” He painted a stark vision of future AI, comparing advanced models to a “country of geniuses in a data centre,” with 100 million people smarter than any Nobel laureate under one nation’s control.

The remarks were especially striking given Nvidia’s close ties to Anthropic, which relies on Nvidia GPUs for its AI models and recently received up to $10 billion in investment from the company. 

Amodei likened the chip export approval to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea,” highlighting the potential risks of transferring critical AI hardware to foreign competitors.

Amodei’s statements underscore the growing tension over AI, national security, and global chip policy, emphasising the critical role of advanced GPUs in powering AI systems and the strategic stakes involved in international technology exports.