"It’s Crazy": Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Slams Nvidia H200 Exports to China

"It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and bragging that Boeing made the casings." This explosive analogy came from Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, during the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. Amodei didn't hold back, unloading on both the U.S. administration and chipmakers like Nvidia for their recent decision to resume high-performance AI chip exports to China.

The Risks of Dario Amodei Nvidia China Exports

The U.S. government recently reversed a ban, officially approving the sale of Nvidia's H200 chips to approved Chinese customers. According to Amodei, this move ignores the "incredible national security implications" of AI models. He described future AI as a "country of geniuses in a data center," envisioning 100 million people smarter than any Nobel Prize winner under a single nation's control. To him, the technological edge the U.S. currently holds—being many years ahead in chip manufacturing—is being recklessly squandered.

Existential Stakes vs. Strategic Partnerships

While Anthropic’s Claude assistant relies heavily on Nvidia’s GPUs, Amodei seems unfazed by the potential fallout of his remarks. The AI race has grown so existential in the minds of its leaders that traditional constraints—like investor relations or diplomatic niceties—no longer seem to apply. Whether this was a moment of unguarded honesty or a calculated move to force Washington's hand, it signals a new era where AI founders are becoming the most vocal hawks in the geopolitical arena.