Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Calls China ‘Formidable’ in Robotics & AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a comment recently that started a lot of discussion across the tech community. During a podcast with Silicon Valley executives, recorded at Nvidia’s annual GTC event in San Jose, he was asked about China’s fast rise in robotics. His answer was short and clear: “I think China is formidable.”

For brands and operators watching China in 2026, that one word matters. Robotics and physical AI are turning into one of the biggest growth stories in the country, and the supply chain that powers it sits mostly inside China.

Huang explained why. China leads the world in the basic hardware parts that robots need: microelectronics, motors, rare earth materials, and magnets. These parts form the physical body of any robot, from industrial arms to advanced humanoids. He noted that the United States largely invented the robotics industry early on, then it became “tired and exhausted” before the critical “brain”, artificial intelligence, came along to revive the sector.

As a result, the U.S. robotics sector relies heavily on China’s strong supply chain and manufacturing scale. This is a practical view of today’s connected global supply chains. China has built real scale and efficiency in making these core components, which gives it a clear edge in the hardware layer of robotics.

The timing matters. Interest in “embodied intelligence”, or physical AI, is rising fast in both the U.S. and China. Physical AI is the next step beyond today’s generative models. It moves intelligence off screens and out of data centers and into the physical world, so robots, autonomous vehicles, and smart machines can sense, reason, plan, and act in real settings. At GTC 2026, Nvidia unveiled its “Physical AI Data Factory Blueprint”, an open reference design built to automate and scale the training data that physical AI systems need.

The momentum is visible on the ground

Just around the time of Huang’s podcast, China’s Unitree Robotics, known for its viral humanoid and quadruped robots, filed for an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market, looking to raise about 4.2 billion yuan (around $610 million). The company reported sharp growth: revenue jumped in 2025, turning losses into solid adjusted profits with healthy margins. The filing points to strong investor confidence in China’s embodied AI sector.

For Nvidia, physical AI is a big growth chance beyond traditional data center GPUs. Huang has described a future where robots become common, turning every industrial company into a robotics company. By providing the computing platform, simulation tools like Isaac, and now data factory frameworks, Nvidia sets itself up as the enabler for the whole sector, including partners in China.

The comments also point to real geopolitical and supply chain pressure. Even as Nvidia signals it is ready to resume shipments of advanced chips like the H200 to China after clearing regulatory steps, tension around technology transfer and export controls is still there. Huang’s nod to China’s strengths shows one clear truth: real leadership in physical AI will likely need work across borders, not pure decoupling.

In the bigger picture, this moment shows the two sides of the AI shift. Software and models may move fast in one region, but the physical world needs hardware skill, manufacturing scale, and real world data, areas where China is strong today. As robots move from labs and factories into daily life, the link between American AI brains and global, especially Chinese, bodies will shape where the industry goes. Huang’s “formidable” label is not just praise; it is a clear read of where the advantages sit right now.

If you sell hardware, components, or industrial products and want to reach Chinese buyers, the same logic applies: you need local visibility, content in Chinese, and trust. See our guide on how an international machinery firm can sell in China.

Jon Wang is a pragmatic, China-focused consultant with hands-on experience in Chinese e-commerce, distribution and digital marketing, always focused on practical solutions for smaller brands and tighter budgets.