Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei criticized the U.S. decision to allow Nvidia to manufacture AI chips for China, likening it to "selling nuclear weapons to North Korea." Speaking at the World Economic Forum, he warned the move was "crazy" and posed "incredible national security implications," noting the U.S. is still "many years ahead" of China in chipmaking. His comments came amid two parallel Davos gatherings that illustrate how geopolitics and tech dealmaking remain closely linked.
Anthropic CEO: Allowing Nvidia To Sell AI Chips To China Is 'Like Selling Nuclear Weapons To North Korea'
A chart showing the compute power of several US and Chinese chips.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sharply criticized the U.S. decision to permit Nvidia to manufacture AI chips for China, telling Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum that the move was equivalent to "selling nuclear weapons to North Korea."
"It's crazy," Amodei said, adding that the decision has "incredible national security implications." He also said the U.S. remains "many years ahead of China" in chipmaking capability.
Amodei — whose company counts Nvidia as a major investor — raised the alarm about the broader strategic consequences of exporting advanced chip production capacity. His comments underscore industry concerns that transferring advanced semiconductor capabilities could shift technological and security balances.
Context from Davos: Semafor's Reed Albergotti noted two concurrent meetings in Davos: one focused on geopolitics (including topics such as Greenland and Venezuela) and another on high-tech dealmaking. Amodei's remarks highlighted how geopolitical tensions and big-tech commercial decisions are tightly interwoven.
Why it matters: Advanced AI chips are central to next-generation AI systems, and decisions about where and how they are produced can have far-reaching implications for national security, supply chains, and global competition in semiconductor technology.
Reporting credit: Bloomberg; additional context reported by Semafor.
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