Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Last week, Jensen Huang said that China is “nanoseconds behind” the US in chipmaking. Is he right? Today, Chris McGuire joins ChinaTalk for a US-China AI hardware net assessment. Chris spent a decade as a civil servant in the State Department, serving as Deputy Senior Director for Technology and National Security on the NSC during the Biden administration and back at State for the initial months of Trump 2.0.
Today, our conversation covers:
Huawei vs Nvidia, and whether China can compete with US AI chip production,
Signs that chip export controls are working,
Why Jensen is full of it when he says China is “nanoseconds behind”
What sets AI chips apart from other industries China has indigenized,
How the US has escalation dominance in a trade war with China, and the significance of BIS’s 50% rule,
Chris’s advice for young professionals, including why they should still consider working in government.
YOU SHOULD SIGN UP TO MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!
chinatalk.substack.com
The podcast is also available in your favorite app, just search ChinaTalk!
Last week, Jensen Huang said that China is “nanoseconds behind” the US in chipmaking. Is he right? Today, Chris McGuire joins ChinaTalk for a US-China AI hardware net assessment. Chris spent a decade as a civil servant in the State Department, serving as Deputy Senior Director for Technology and National Security on the NSC during the Biden administration and back at State for the initial months of Trump 2.0.
Today, our conversation covers:
Huawei vs Nvidia, and whether China can compete with US AI chip production,
Signs that chip export controls are working,
Why Jensen is full of it when he says China is “nanoseconds behind”
What sets AI chips apart from other industries China has indigenized,
How the US has escalation dominance in a trade war with China, and the significance of BIS’s 50% rule,
Chris’s advice for young professionals, including why they should still consider working in government.
YOU SHOULD SIGN UP TO MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!
chinatalk.substack.com
The podcast is also available in your favorite app, just search ChinaTalk!
