Jensen Huang says society needs new norms as AI spreads

Jensen Huang used a factory groundbreaking in Sherman, Texas, to make a broader argument about artificial intelligence: society cannot treat the technology as a side issue anymore. Speaking Tuesday before the expansion of Coherent’s manufacturing facility, the Nvidia chief executive said people need new norms as AI spreads through daily life, and he urged the public to use the tools more freely rather than fear them.

Huang cast AI as a practical force that can speed economic growth, widen access to advanced computing and help people who do not know how to program. He said the debate over AI has moved far beyond Silicon Valley and into the political arena, where job losses, safety, regulation and national security now sit in the same conversation. He also pushed back on worst-case warnings, saying AI can already help with tasks such as building websites, reading documents, guiding research and planning home remodels.

The Texas project gave those arguments a concrete setting. Nvidia is betting on a $2 billion partnership with Coherent, and one report says the expanded Sherman plant will make indium phosphide for optical lasers used to connect AI chips. The same report said the facility could create about 1,000 jobs, double the plant’s floor space, quadruple output and cut power use by up to 50%.

That makes Sherman a test case for a central claim of the AI boom: that the technology can revive U.S. manufacturing instead of only enriching software companies. AP coverage described Huang as presenting the Texas factory as proof that AI infrastructure can support domestic industrial revival and create jobs, a message aimed at workers, lawmakers and investors who are watching where the next wave of AI spending lands.

But Huang’s call for new social norms also exposes a deeper tension. He said AI needs regulation and safety standards, and he stressed that national security must be part of the discussion as U.S.-China competition shapes chip supply chains and export controls. What he did not spell out was who sets those norms, how quickly they should arrive or whether public institutions can keep pace with companies racing to embed AI into the economy. Democrats have criticized Huang’s proximity to President Donald Trump, underscoring how closely the industry’s ambitions are now tied to Washington’s politics.