CNBC spoke to analysts who identified some of China's leading contenders that are looking to challenge Nvidia, including technology giants Huawei, Alibaba and Baidu and startups such as Biren Technology and Enflame.
The overarching view is that they are lagging behind Nvidia at this point.
"These companies have made notable progress in developing AI chips tailored to specific applications (ASICs)," Wei Sun, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.