Entrepreneur and investor Kevin O'Leary said Wednesday that selling U.S. AI chips to all countries, including rivals, is the best way to maintain long-term American technological dominance.
O'Leary Warns Restrictions On Nvidia And AMD Could Backfire
O'Leary, also known as "Mr. Wonderful" from Shark Tank, shared his views on X while posting a video, arguing that restricting sales of chips from companies like Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) could hurt U.S. interests.
"Restricting Nvidia and AMD chips doesn't hurt China; it just pushes them to build their own stack. That's a strategic mistake," he said.
Selling AI Chips Globally Could Identify Top Talent For The US
In the video, he elaborated: "The whole idea in order to win AI data supremacy is to sell everybody everything and then force them, because of the technology, to develop their stacks on American chips. All of them. That’s how you win."
He drew a historical parallel, noting the U.S. recruitment of German scientists after World War II.
"Those rocket scientists… moved from Germany to the United States because they wanted to move their families there,” he said.
He added, “And all of a sudden, that resource was built on American hardware, American ingenuity."
O'Leary emphasized that selling chips globally would allow the U.S. to identify top talent and attract them to the country, strengthening its innovation ecosystem.
"Give everybody everything and identify the winners. Because you have a better place to live, you move them into the United States.“
“That's how you win the technology war," he said.
US Restrictions And China's Self-Reliance Put Nvidia Under Pressure
China effectively shut Nvidia out of its AI-chip market after years of dominance, a shift CEO Jensen Huang described as moving "from 95% market share to 0%."
Beijing's ban on foreign AI chips in new state projects, stricter port checks, and a national push to expand domestic chip production left China with oversupply and little need for new Nvidia shipments.
Last month, major U.S. cloud providers Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) supported the Gain AI Act, a proposal to further restrict advanced chip exports to China, a rare break from Nvidia, which called the policy "self-defeating."
The Trump administration also blocked Nvidia's scaled-down B30A chip, saying it still had capabilities suitable for training large language models.
In September, White House adviser David Sacks added to the debate, warning that excessive limits could strengthen Chinese rivals like Huawei, which was already developing competing AI chips and reducing reliance on U.S. hardware.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
