Perhaps the biggest outcome of the latest U.S.-China trade talks is China’s increased confidence in its homegrown technology. Alibaba and Baidu both saw their stocks surge this past week after news of AI advances and business deals . Huawei touted AI chip systems better than Nvidia’s at the same time as Beijing extended a probe into the U.S. chipmaker. Chinese regulators are now discouraging domestic tech giants from buying Nvidia chips, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources. “It’s unlikely that Chinese companies can opt to completely do away with foreign chips, for now,” said Brian Tycangco, analyst at Stansberry Research. “But news coming out of China like this is not coincidental. It’s meant to send a message and, potentially, weaken President Trump’s hand in trade war negotiations.” “For the time being, the safe play is to stick with the big names in the industry, such as SMIC, Alibaba and Baidu,” the analyst said. “We have no way of telling where the trade war will eventually end up. China’s chip ecosystem is growing fast, but also entails a significant risk for smaller players with limited access to capital.” Surviving Nvidia restrictions Major Chinese AI players appear to have survived U.S. restrictions on Nvidia so far. Bernstein analysts said in a note Friday that they assume Chinese internet companies can continue …
