Anthropic’s CEO stuns Davos audience with bold critique of Nvidia’s AI dominance

DCM Editorial Summary: This story has been independently rewritten and summarised for DCM readers to highlight key developments relevant to the region. Original reporting by Tech Crunch, click this post to read the original article.

Last week, the U.S. government reversed a previous ban and approved the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips and certain AMD processors to approved customers in China. While these aren’t the most advanced chips, they are still high-performance processors crucial for AI development—raising national security concerns. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei strongly criticized this decision, warning that selling such technology to China could have serious long-term consequences.

You might find it surprising that Amodei’s comments were aimed not just at the U.S. administration but also at Nvidia, a major partner and investor in his company. Nvidia provides the GPUs that power Anthropic’s AI models, and just two months ago, the companies announced a deep technology partnership worth up to $10 billion. Despite this close relationship, Amodei likened the chip sales to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea”—a statement that likely caused intense reactions inside Nvidia.

Amodei emphasized the national security risks associated with AI, describing future AI systems as being like a “country of geniuses in a data center”—intelligence so powerful that it could shape global balance. He argued that because the U.S. is currently far ahead in chip manufacturing, it would be a grave mistake to give that advantage away, especially when the implications of AI are so far-reaching.

What stands out most is Amodei’s confidence and lack of concern about potential fallout from his comments. Despite the weight of what he said, he continued with his schedule in Davos without missing a beat. If you’re watching the global AI race, this moment highlights how seriously leaders in the field view geopolitical risks, often pushing aside traditional business diplomacy in favor of stark warnings and bold statements.