Jensen Huang dismissed the idea that the memory market is heading for a surplus by the end of the decade, telling CNBC on Thursday that demand for high-bandwidth and low-power memory will keep absorbing supply for years. The comments came as shares in Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron continue to reel from a sell-off triggered by a South Korean opinion column warning of a 2029 downturn and a Chinese rival's architectural advance.

The column that moved the market

A piece published on Oct. 15 in a prominent South Korean outlet cited two experts who predicted a "flood of new supply" would turn the memory market into a "red ocean" by 2029, arguing the AI supercycle could be over. Elon Musk amplified the bear case the same day, posting that China "will be making a LOT of RAM in 2028." Memory stocks have slid since.

Huang's counter: you can always use more

"One of the things that's really great about memory is that you can always use more of it," Huang said on the sidelines of GTC Berlin. He noted that Nvidia was the first to put LPDDR, the memory used in smartphones, into data centers, delivering twice the energy efficiency of alternatives, and that the company will continue to consume "abundant amounts" of it. High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, will also remain a staple for years, he said.

The Chinese competitor in the room

ChangXin Memory Technologies added to the pressure this week by announcing a new design architecture that could yield greater efficiencies, raising the prospect that CXMT takes share from the incumbent trio. Asked if Nvidia would partner with the Chinese firm, Huang said the company is "open-minded" and takes Chinese manufacturing capabilities "very seriously." He added that U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors have accelerated China's push to nationalize its semiconductor supply chain. "We've definitely accelerated China's initiatives," he said.

The loophole that matters

While the U.S. blocks shipments of Nvidia's top-end chips to China, some Chinese firms access that compute power through data centers in Southeast Asia. Experts say that route has been key to the improvement in Chinese AI models. Huang described American tech firms as "mighty" and ready for competition "from anybody," but the supply-chain reality he outlined suggests the memory market's next cycle will be shaped as much by geopolitics as by bit growth.