On November 8, Jensen Huang appeared at Taiwan Semiconductor's annual sports day and stated that NVIDIA's business is "very strong and growing stronger month by month." Huang’s primary objective during this visit to Taiwan was to secure production capacity for advanced processes such as the 3-nanometer node. C. C. Wei, CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor, confirmed receipt of the request for expanded production and projected that the company would continue to achieve record sales growth.
In response to the sustained strong demand driven by the AI boom, the world's most valuable company$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$is making every effort to secure its chip supply. Its CEO, Jensen Huang, has traveled to Taiwan, China, to request additional production capacity from key partner$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$underscoring the pivotal role this chipmaker plays in the current AI supply chain.
According to a Bloomberg report on November 8, Jensen Huang appeared at Taiwan Semiconductor’s annual sports day event in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and told reporters that NVIDIA's business is 'extremely robust and getting stronger month after month.' He revealed that during this visit to Taiwan, he had requested Taiwan Semiconductor to provide more chip supplies.
C. C. Wei, CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor, also confirmed on the same day that Jensen Huang had indeed requested an increase in wafer supply during this visit. Wei informed employees that Taiwan Semiconductor expects to continue achieving record-breaking annual sales growth. These interactions occurred after a recent correction in major technology stocks, with market enthusiasm for AI temporarily dampened by concerns over OpenAI's funding issues and bearish bets against NVIDIA by prominent investor Michael Burry.
Jensen Huang’s public move to secure more capacity and his high-profile affirmation of the partnership not only conveys extreme confidence in the future demand for AI but also vividly illustrates how NVIDIA’s growth is closely tied to Taiwan Semiconductor’s production capacity. At the event on Saturday, Huang stated directly: “Without Taiwan Semiconductor, there would be no NVIDIA today.”
Capacity Bottlenecks Highlighted, Strengthening Supply Chain Becomes Critical
Behind the robust demand lies a severe challenge on the supply side. According to reports, one of Jensen Huang's main purposes for visiting Taiwan this time is to secure more wafer capacity for NVIDIA’s Blackwell series chips. Currently, there is significant market demand for NVIDIA products, including the Blackwell series chips and rack-level configurations, while production capacity has become a key bottleneck in meeting this demand.
Taiwan Semiconductor’s advanced manufacturing capabilities are particularly in high demand globally. C. C. Wei had previously told analysts in October that the company’s capacity remains “extremely tight” and efforts are underway to narrow the gap between supply and demand. Against this backdrop, NVIDIA is actively striving to become one of the primary clients for Taiwan Semiconductor’s 3nm process, expected to account for approximately 30% of total output.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s competitors, including Qualcomm, are also working to challenge its leadership in the AI accelerator space and are similarly competing for Taiwan Semiconductor’s limited advanced capacity. This makes Jensen Huang’s efforts to strengthen ties with Taiwan Semiconductor appear especially critical and urgent.
“Without Taiwan Semiconductor, there would be no NVIDIA”: A Strategic Dependency
Jensen Huang's statement that "without Taiwan Semiconductor, there would be no NVIDIA" is not an exaggerated courtesy. An in-depth analysis of its supply chain reveals that Taiwan Semiconductor is at the center of NVIDIA’s AI business, whether in core semiconductor manufacturing or advanced CoWoS packaging services.
This assertion also reflects the evolution of NVIDIA’s strategy. In the past, NVIDIA was considered a "late adopter" of cutting-edge chip technologies, but now the company is actively pursuing the most advanced chip technologies, such as the A16. This means its reliance on Taiwan Semiconductor will only deepen further.
This year marks Jensen Huang’s fourth visit to Taiwan. His frequent meetings with Taiwan Semiconductor executives, along with the high praise expressed, indicate that the relationship between the two companies is deepening further. In the fierce competition within AI, keeping Taiwan Semiconductor, the 'most sought-after company' in the industry, closely aligned has become a core strategy for NVIDIA to maintain its market leadership.
Editor/melody