*

Huang's third visit this year highlights Nvidia's ( NVDA )

commitment to

Chinese market

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Huang mixed with fans, taking selfies, autographing

leather

jackets

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Nvidia ( NVDA ) caught in U.S.-China trade tensions, affecting $17

billion China business

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Huang praises Chinese tech giants, including rivals, for

tech

capabilities

By Che Pan, Liam Mo and Casey Hall

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, July 21 (Reuters) - Nvidia ( NVDA )

CEO Jensen Huang is no stranger to Beijing, but his most recent

visit, his third to China this year, cemented his rock star

status in the country, where fans mingled freely with the AI

titan on the streets of the capital.

It was a rare sight for a chief executive of one of the

world's most powerful companies to roam around Beijing, engage

in wide-ranging interviews, take selfies with excited fans and

even sign leather jackets - a signature clothing item of the

billionaire - for his devoted followers.

The tycoon at the helm of the world's most valuable company

arrived in Beijing for a supply chain expo last week just days

after meeting U.S. President Donald Trump and announced the AI

giant would once again be able to sell its H20 chips in China

following a U.S. ban in April on national security concerns.

Huang's company is caught in the cross-hairs of a U.S.-China

trade war that threatens to upend supply chains as both

countries battle for global dominance in AI and other

cutting-edge technologies, threatening Nvidia's ( NVDA ) $17 billion

China business.

While Huang appears to be navigating a delicate tightrope

between Beijing and Washington well, the company remains subject

to the ups and downs of Sino-U.S. tensions, analysts said.

"Jensen Huang's visit aimed to demonstrate Nvidia's ( NVDA )

commitment to the Chinese market," said Lian Jye Su, a chief

analyst at tech research firm Omdia. "However, this commitment

must be balanced against potential U.S. government concerns

about deepening ties with China."

Huang described AI models from Chinese firms Deepseek,

Alibaba ( BABA ) and Tencent ( TCTZF ) as "world class" and his

official engagements included a "wonderful" meeting with Chinese

trade tsar and Vice Premier He Lifeng and a face-to-face with

Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Demand for H20 chips surged in

China following the launch of DeepSeek models in January.

"Nvidia ( NVDA ) will still need to see the tide clearly and ride it

at the right time to maximize the available benefits. But good

for the company, I think it has a CEO who's very good at doing

that," said Tilly Zhang, a technology analyst with Gavekal

Dragonomics.

Charlie Chai, an analyst with 86Research, said Nvidia's ( NVDA )

China market share was likely to slide in years to come.

"The Chinese government will actively help or subsidize

domestic rivals that can one day stand up to and, at least in

some use cases, replace high-end Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips."

SELFIES AND AUTOGRAPHS

In an unusual sight for a global CEO visiting China, videos

posted on social media platforms showed Huang wandering the

streets of Beijing, drink in hand, signing notebooks and posing

for selfies.

In response to questions about how Washington would likely

receive his latest visit to Beijing, the CEO said: "I told

President Trump and his cabinet that I was coming to China. Told

him about my trip here, and he said, 'Have a great trip'."

At the opening of the China International Supply Chain Expo

last Wednesday, Huang - who was born in Taiwan but moved to the

U.S. at the age of nine - traded his signature leather jacket

for a black, traditional Chinese-style jacket and referred to

himself in a speech as "Chinese".

In his Expo speech, as well as in later comments, Huang was

effusive in his praise for Chinese tech giants' capabilities in

bringing technology into applications, describing China's supply

chain as "vast".

Even arch rival Huawei Technologies, a firm that

Nvidia ( NVDA ) is locked in a strategic and intensifying battle for AI

chip dominance with, was lauded.

"I think the fact of the matter is, anyone who discounts

Huawei and anyone who discounts China's manufacturing capability

is deeply naive. This is a formidable company," Huang told

reporters.

(Reporting by Che Pan, Liam Mo and Casey Hall; Editing by Anne

Marie Roantree and Lincoln Feast.)