Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that artificial intelligence should be treated as infrastructure on par with roads, power grids and the internet, during a fireside chat at the G20 Innovation Ministerial on Sept. 2, 2026, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Huang argued that every country needs to build its own AI infrastructure to support its economy, calling AI “the great equalizer” that will “democratize intelligence and capabilities for the G20 countries.” In practical terms, Huang was calling for countries to invest in AI infrastructure — including energy, chips and data centers — with the same urgency they apply to power grids and highways.
Key facts
- Who: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
- What: Fireside chat calling for AI to be treated as infrastructure, at the G20 Innovation Ministerial
- When: The ministerial ran Sept. 1-2, 2026; Huang’s remarks came Sept. 2
- Where: The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Cost cited: Roughly $50 billion to $60 billion to build one gigawatt of AI infrastructure
- Quote: AI is “the great equalizer,” Huang said
About the G20 Innovation Ministerial
The ministerial ran Sept. 1-2, 2026, at The Carolina Inn, co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Its stated goal, according to the event organizers, was to “identify policy principles that promote innovation in AI and other emerging technologies” and support economic growth in the sector. Representatives from G20 members including China, Brazil, Canada and Germany attended; officials from Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Poland, India and Saudi Arabia were expected to attend.
Huang’s pitch: treat AI like infrastructure
Huang told Lutnick and the audience that countries investing in AI will “elevate your society, elevate your industry much, much more quickly than you possibly could have imagined before.” He put a number on the urgency: one gigawatt of AI infrastructure costs roughly $50 billion to $60 billion to build, he said, and deserves the same treatment as building power grids and highways.
Huang also laid out what he called a “five-layer cake” for AI development:
- Energy
- Chips
- Data centers
- AI models
- Data or applications
He said the U.S. is more deeply invested across all five layers and suggested other countries choose which layer or layers to focus their own investment on.
Other tech leaders make their case
Huang wasn’t the only tech executive making the case to Lutnick that day. CEO Sam Altman held his own fireside chat with the commerce secretary, telling the summit that “not adopting AI in your country is like not adopting electricity 100 years ago,” while also flagging rising cybersecurity risks as AI adoption accelerates. Lutnick held additional fireside chats at the event with Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown and Palantir CEO Alex Karp.
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg also addressed the summit. Musk argued AI could add roughly $20 trillion to $30 trillion a year to the global economy — a 20% to 30% increase, though he did not specify what baseline figure that percentage was measured against. He also warned of a possible power-generation shortfall as soon as next year, and separately criticized European-style AI rules as making new technology “default illegal.” Zuckerberg raised concerns about anticipated power shortages and shortages of skilled workers as data-center growth continues.
Tariffs: mixed signals
On tariffs, Huang told reporters at the event that he’d had “no conversations” with the administration about semiconductor tariffs while in Chapel Hill, and praised Lutnick’s support for U.S. chip manufacturing. Lutnick, separately that same day, told the summit that semiconductor tariffs “are being considered.” Reporting does not say whether the two comments were connected or made independently of each other.
Washington’s light-touch approach vs. The EU
The event also became a venue for the administration’s own AI policy push. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios promoted a light-touch AI-regulation framework under which participating countries would reserve new regulation for “novel” situations, direct funding toward foundational research and expand commercial opportunities for the technology, rather than write broad new rules. The approach stands in contrast to the European Union, which is pursuing new AI legislation of its own — coverage of the summit described the difference as a split between Washington and Brussels over how tightly to regulate the technology.
Protests outside the summit
Not everyone in Chapel Hill agreed with the light-touch approach. Demonstrators, including University of North Carolina students, protested near the venue, calling for more AI regulation, with signs reading “G20 innovation for the public, not the billionaires.” Organizers had separately announced a specific student protest at UNC’s Old Well for 10 a.m. on the summit’s second day. Chapel Hill police increased their presence around The Carolina Inn for the event, coordinating with UNC and state and federal agencies, including K-9 sweeps of vehicles; local reporting indicated no incidents and normal traffic during the summit.