Anthropic CEO: "Selling H200 to China Is Like Selling Nuclear Weapons to North Korea"

Amodei: "A Mistake in Terms of National Security"

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, criticized the approval of sales of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chip to China, stating that it is "similar to selling nuclear weapons to North Korea."

On January 20 (local time), during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, CEO Amodei said, "That would be a huge mistake. I think it's truly outrageous," expressing his strong opposition.

Dario Amodei, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Anthropic. Photo by AP Yonhap News

CEO Amodei emphasized that allowing the sale of AI chips to China is a mistake "with enormous implications for national security." He has previously called for maintaining export controls on chips to China. At last year's Davos Forum, he warned of concerns about a "'1984' scenario-a society where Big Brother surveils all citizens, as depicted in George Orwell's novel-or even worse situations."

The Donald Trump administration officially approved the export of the H200 chip to China on January 13. Released over two years ago, the H200 chip is the most advanced Nvidia AI chip that can be legally exported to China. Nvidia is selling the more advanced 'Blackwell' chip in the United States and is preparing to launch the next-generation 'Vera Rubin' chip.

However, according to the US IT media outlet The Information, Chinese authorities have reportedly informed some technology companies that the purchase of the H200 chip will only be approved in special cases, such as for university research and development (R&D) laboratories.