Surge in Demand for Nvidia's Blackwell Chips Boosts TSMC Wafers

Nvidia's cutting-edge Blackwell chip is sparking a new wave in the global AI sector, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) playing a pivotal role.

At an event held in Hsinchu, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, remarked that his company is experiencing “very robust demand” for its newest chips designed to propel the AI revolution. This enthusiasm translates to a heightened need for wafers—thin silicon discs critical to semiconductor manufacturing—sourced from TSMC, Nvidia's trusted manufacturing ally.

“TSMC is performing excellently inSupporting us with wafers,” Huang stated, acknowledging the Taiwanese manufacturer’s essential contribution to Nvidia’s achievements.

His comments marked his fourth visit to Taiwan this year as both companies deal with the complexities posed by U.S.-China trade disputes. Nvidia's operations in China have been restricted due to U.S. laws aimed at curtailing advanced chip exports, while TSMC faces challenges in balancing demands between Western and Asian markets.

Huang emphasized that the demand for Blackwell extends beyond GPUs. “While we manufacture the GPUs, we also develop CPUs, networking devices, and switches—numerous chips linked to Blackwell,” he noted. TSMC's CEO C.C. Wei confirmed that requests for additional wafers from Nvidia have been made, though specific volumes have not been disclosed.

The collaboration between the two firms has yielded extraordinary growth, with Nvidia emerging as the first company to attain a $5 trillion market valuation, prompting TSMC's Wei to refer to Huang as a “five-trillion-dollar man.”

Regarding supply chain difficulties, Huang acknowledged that shortages could arise in various sectors as demand intensifies. However, he conveyed confidence, highlighting support from leading memory chip suppliers SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron, all of whom have increased production to match the AI-enhanced chip “super cycle.”

South Korea’s SK Hynix has already reached full sales capacity of its chip output for the upcoming year, while Samsung has confirmed ongoing discussions with Nvidia concerning its next-gen HBM4 memory chips.

Despite the impressive global momentum, Nvidia cannot currently market its advanced Blackwell chips in China, due to existing U.S. restrictions. Huang emphasized that there are “no ongoing discussions” to resume these sales.

As the AI landscape evolves, Nvidia and TSMC—the giants of the chip industry—are set to lead the charge in high-performance computing.