CNBC’s Jim Cramer called the recent selloff in Nvidia Corp. “absurd” on Monday, stating the decline has not changed his long-term conviction in the AI chipmaker. “I know NVIDIA is going down. I still own it. Don’t trade it. I think it’s absurd,” Cramer said on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, describing Nvidia as having “the best balance sheet of any company in the world.” The stock is up 4.06% year-to-date and 11.18% over the past year, but has fallen 5.51% over the past week amid a broader chip-sector selloff. Investors dumped memory stocks after The Information reported that China had developed a domestically produced deep ultraviolet lithography system capable of manufacturing advanced memory chips. Cramer said one of the biggest questions facing investors is the rise of open-source AI models, which he added was being driven by Nvidia. He said the U.S.-China competition for AI leadership has become a strategic priority for Washington, arguing that Nvidia stands to benefit and that “the government is also a kind of subtle backstop in all of this… because they don’t want China to win.” According to a report by Politico, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to meet with lawmakers in Washington this week to discuss U.S. leadership in AI. NVDA closed 4.99% lower on Monday at $196.51 and