Nvidia's Blackwell Chips Ignite TSMC's Wafer Demand

Post by : Bianca Suleiman

Nvidia’s latest innovation, the Blackwell chip, is sparking a major shift in the global AI landscape, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) integral to this evolution.

At an event in Hsinchu, CEO Jensen Huang reported a “significant demand” for these new chips, designed to power the current Artificial Intelligence boom. This uptick in demand is reflected in a robust need for wafers — the foundational silicon disks for semiconductors — from TSMC, their longstanding manufacturing ally.

“TSMC has been remarkable in supporting our wafer needs,” Huang remarked, attributing part of Nvidia’s triumph to the Taiwanese chip firm.

Huang made these comments during his fourth visit to Taiwan this year, as both companies navigate complex challenges stemming from U.S.-China trade disputes. Nvidia has faced restrictions on its operations in China due to U.S. limitations on advanced chip exports, while TSMC grapples with balancing its commitments to Western clients and Asian markets.

The Nvidia CEO indicated that the Blackwell series demand goes beyond GPUs. “We produce GPUs, CPUs, networking components, switches — numerous chips are related to Blackwell,” he stated. TSMC's CEO C.C. Wei confirmed that Nvidia has placed requests for additional wafers, although the exact figures are not publicly available.

The partnership between these two industry giants has yielded phenomenal growth, with Nvidia recently achieving a landmark $5 trillion market valuation, prompting Wei to refer to Huang as a “five-trillion-dollar man.”

Addressing supply chain challenges, Huang acknowledged that shortages might surface in various segments as demand surges, but remained optimistic, citing strong collaboration with memory chip titans SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron. These companies are ramping up output to keep up with the AI-driven chip “super cycle.”

SK Hynix has entirely sold out its chip production for the next year, while Samsung is actively negotiating with Nvidia to provide its upcoming HBM4 memory chips.

Despite this booming global interest, Nvidia still cannot market its premier Blackwell chips in China due to ongoing U.S. restrictions, and Huang clarified there are “no current discussions” regarding the resumption of these sales.

As the AI-driven landscape flourishes, Nvidia and TSMC stand united, driving forward the next frontier of high-performance computing.