TMTPOST -- Nvidia Corporation joins the wave of U.S. expansion to avoid shocks from new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
Credit：Nvidia
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expected the artificial intelligence (AI) giant would invest hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S.-made semiconductor and electronics over the coming four years. 「Overall, we will procure, over the course of the next four years, probably half a trillion dollars worth of electronics in total," Huang told the Financial Times (FT) on Wednesday. "And I think we can easily see ourselves manufacturing several hundred billion of it here in the US.」
Huang revealed in an interview with FT that Nvidia』s latest generation architecture Blackwell systems are now produced in the United States, as an effort of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to expand capacity in the country. With the work of TSMC and other suppliers, Huang sees increased U.S. production would be possible.The chief executive felt confident in the Trump administration』s ability to accelerate the expansion of the AI industry in U.S.
Nivida has been highly dependent on its manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, where U.S. President Donald Trump repeated earmarked as a region that his tariffs will target as part of push to revive U.S. manufacturing. Trump specially named Taiwan in his remarks late January as he wants impose hefty tariffs on Taiwan-made chips. The president said computer chip production companies "left us and went to Taiwan," and that he wants them back. He reckoned tariffs ranging from "25%, 50% or even a 100% tax" will incentivize semiconductor producers to return in strength and numbers to U.S. shores.
While acknowledging any disruption in TSMC would be "uncomfortable", Huang told the FT that the impact should remain manageable.
Huang said in the CNBC interview on Wednesday that Trump』s tariffs won』t pose any meaningful impact in the near term since Nvdia is working with contractors like TSMC to move production to the United States. 「We』ve got a lot of AI to build ... AI is the foundation, the operating system of every industry going forward. ... We are enthusiastic about building in America,」 Huang said. 「Partners are working with us to bring manufacturing here. In the near term, the impact of tariffs won』t be meaningful.」
Trump on March 3 announced TSMC will invest $100 billion in boosting U.S. chip manufacturing. The company then confirmed it plans to expand its investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing in U.S. by additional $100 billion. That will bring its total investment in the country to $165 billion. TSMC said the expansion includes plans for three new fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities and a major R&D team center. It expected the expanded investment would support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years and create tens of thousands of high-paying, high-tech jobs in advanced chip manufacturing and R&D.
"TSMC investing in the U.S. provides for a substantial step up in our supply chain resilience," Huang said, according to the FT. He also dismissed reported talks with TSMC and Intel, stating Nvidia is continuously evaluating foundry and chip packaging services.
TSMC has pitched a group of semiconductor companies including Nvidia Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Broadcom Inc. on running Intel』s foundry business through a potential joint venture, Reuters reported last week.
Under TSMC』s proposal, the world』s top semiconductor foundry would be the only operator of Intel』s foundry factories that is based outside U.S. and hold not more than 50% of the potential venture, considering U.S. President Donald Trump has implied discomfort with foreign entities』 ownership of American companies, per the report. If the report is accurate, Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom are likely to be other operators of the potential venture and get stakes in it.