Nvidia CEO arrives for meeting with TSMC amid US talks on new chip for China
Kyiv • UNN
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in Taipei for a meeting with TSMC, discussing the production of new chips and the situation with H20. The company is working on a successor to H20, but the decision regarding its supply to China depends on the US government.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in Taipei on Friday to visit chip manufacturing partner TSMC, as the world's most valuable company tries to navigate growing friction between Washington and Beijing over access to its industry-leading artificial intelligence chips, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
Details
His visit, just days before Nvidia's earnings report on Wednesday, comes as the company has asked some of its suppliers to halt work related to the H20 chip, following Beijing's warnings about the chip's security risks, and amid the development of a new AI chip tailored for the Chinese market.
"My main purpose for coming here is to visit TSMC," he told reporters, adding that he would only stay for a few hours and leave after dinner with TSMC executives, according to a live broadcast by local media at Taipei's Songshan Airport, where he landed in a private jet.
He also said that TSMC had asked him to give a speech. TSMC said Huang would give an internal speech on his "management philosophy." Details were not specified.
Huang said he came to thank TSMC, where they have released six brand new chips, including a new GPU and silicon photonics processor for Nvidia's next-generation supercomputers based on the Rubin architecture. The chip release signifies the completion of chip development for the start of production.
"This is the first architecture in our history where every chip is new and revolutionary," he said. "We have released all the chips."
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month opened the door to the possibility of selling more advanced Nvidia chips in China, beyond the H20, and reached an agreement with Nvidia and AMD under which the U.S. government would receive 15% of the revenue from the sale of some advanced chips in China.
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Reuters reported this week that Nvidia is working on a new chip, tentatively named B30A, based on its latest Blackwell architecture, which will be more powerful than the H20 model.
When asked about the B30A, Huang said that Nvidia is negotiating with the U.S. regarding offering China a successor to its H20 chip, but the decision is not up to the company.
"Of course, it depends on the U.S. government, and we are in dialogue with them, but it's too early to draw conclusions," he said.
Nvidia only received permission to resume H20 sales in July. It was designed specifically for China after export restrictions were imposed in 2023, but the company was suddenly ordered to halt sales in April.
Shortly after Washington's approval, Nvidia placed an order for 300,000 H20 chips with TSMC to add to its existing range due to high demand from Chinese companies, Reuters reported. But a few days later, Nvidia faced accusations from China's cyberspace regulator and state media that the American company's chips could pose a security threat.
Later, Chinese authorities warned Chinese tech firms about buying H20, raising concerns about potential information security risks. Nvidia claims its chips have no hidden information risks.
Nvidia has asked Foxconn to halt work related to the H20 chip, Reuters reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the matter. A third source said Nvidia wanted to fully exhaust existing H20 stocks first.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Information reported on Thursday that Nvidia had instructed Arizona-based Amkor Technology to halt production of its H20 chips this week, and also informed South Korean Samsung Electronics, citing two people directly familiar with the communications.
Amkor is involved in developing advanced packaging for the chip, while Samsung Electronics supplies high-speed memory chips for this model.
Neither company immediately responded to Reuters' request for comment.
When asked if Nvidia had asked suppliers to halt production, Huang told reporters in Taipei that they had a significant number of H20 chips prepared and were now waiting for purchase orders from Chinese customers.
"When we get orders, we can pay more," he said.
"We constantly manage our supply chain to account for market conditions," an Nvidia spokesperson said, adding: "As both governments acknowledge, H20 is not a military product and is not intended for government infrastructure."
Huang said that supplying H20 to China is not a national security issue, and that the ability to supply H20 chips to China is "highly valued."