Nvidia Stamps Bigger Mark on China With Plans for New AI Research Center

Semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA) is ramping up its commitment to China with plans to open up a new research center in Shanghai.

Technical Challenges

The group, whose sales to China have been hit by U.S. export curbs and Trump tariffs, is hoping that the center will help it remain competitive in the country, where it is also facing pressure from rival Huawei.

According to an article in the Financial Times, Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang hopes that the research and development center will research the specific needs and demands of Chinese customers and the “complex technical requirements” needed to satisfy White House restrictions.

That means that the actual design and production of Nvidia’s chips will remain overseas to ensure there are no complications over the transfer of intellectual property to China.

The center in Shanghai will also, it is understood, work on other areas such as how to optimize existing products and research into other sectors such as autonomous driving.

AI Brains

It is also looking to recruit some of the hottest Chinese AI talent, which would be another blow to its rivals in the country.

The FT article said that the Shanghai government has shown preliminary support for the plan whilst Nvidia is understood to have lobbied the Trump administration for approval. The President was certainly effusive about Huang during his recent trip to Saudi Arabia declaring: “What a job you’ve done. He’s got 99% of the chip market. That’s not easy to beat.”

Huang does want to beat it. China made up 14% of Nvidia’s revenues last year at a value of $17 billion. Huang believes that could be worth $50 billion in just a couple of years.

Is NVDA a Good Stock to Buy Now?

On TipRanks, NVDA has a Strong Buy consensus based on 34 Buy, 5 Hold and 1 Sell rating. Its highest price target is $200. NVDA stock’s consensus price target is $164.51 implying an 22.01% upside.

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