Nvidia CEO feels 'perfectly safe' sourcing from Taiwan's TSMC amid China tensions
By Wallace Witkowski
Chip maker has bet farm on AI, and the supply chain it needs flows through Taiwan and China
Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Jensen Huang exuded confidence on Thursday that the chip maker has what it takes to navigate the geopolitical sensitivities of having most of its chipmaking capacity in a country that China recognizes as its own territory.
At an event at Computex 2023, the 's Taiwan-born Nvidia (NVDA) co-founder told reporters the chip maker was diversified through several "fabs" -- what the semiconductor industry calls the high-tech silicon foundries where wafers for chips are forged -- in Taiwan through third-party foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (2330.TW).
Huang also confirmed that Nvidia would source silicon from TSMC's fabs that are being built in Arizona, "so we have a lot of diversity and resilience designed into our supply chain," according to Reuters. Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) said in December they would be among the first of TSMC's Arizona customers.
For more than a year, Huang has had to work around obstacles when it comes to China. COVID pandemic closures in China throw several wrenches into Nvidia's supply chain last year, but U.S. bans against selling China certain high-tech chips forced it to find a way of selling other chips to China to avoid about $400 million in potential lost sales.
Growing concern that China tensions could cripple global chip production in Taiwan was a large incentive for last year's $50 billion in U.S. subsidies to build fab capacity domestically.
Read: Nvidia CEO expects AI revenue to grow from 'tiny, tiny, tiny' to 'quite large' in the next 12 months
"I have every confidence that the demand placed on us, which is extremely high, will be served and will be served soon," Huang told reporters, according to Reuters. "The process of diversifying in different geographies is an excellent strategy by TSMC, and so TSMC is now part of Nvidia's diversity and redundancy strategy."
Read: Nvidia CEO tells graduates: Take advantage of AI or get left behind
Recently, Nvidia forecast record revenue of about $11 billion for the second quarter, nearly $3 billion higher than any other quarter it has reported, following a March developers conference that focused on AI opportunities and led Huang to project big financial returns over the next year. Shares enjoyed their best day since 2016 in response, and pushed the chip maker toward a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Read:China's response to U.S. complaint about high-risk interception of reconnaissance aircraft: Quit flying recon missions
-Wallace Witkowski
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June 01, 2023 13:40 ET (17:40 GMT)
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