Nvidia’s Blackwell Chips Drive Huge Demand for TSMC Wafers

Nvidia’s latest powerhouse, the Blackwell chip, is setting off another wave in the global AI race — and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is right at the center of it.

During an event in Hsinchu, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company is witnessing “very strong demand” for its newest chips, built to fuel the current Artificial Intelligence boom. That surge, he noted, is driving an equally strong appetite for wafers — the thin silicon disks that form the base of every semiconductor — from Nvidia’s long-time manufacturing partner, TSMC.

“TSMC is doing a very good job supporting us on wafers,” Huang said, crediting the Taiwanese chipmaker for its critical role in Nvidia’s success.

Huang’s remarks came during his fourth visit to Taiwan this year, at a time when both tech giants are navigating challenges tied to U.S.-China trade tensions. Nvidia’s operations in China have been restricted due to Washington’s curbs on advanced chip exports, while TSMC faces its own hurdles maintaining balance between Western clients and Asian markets.

The Nvidia chief explained that demand for the Blackwell generation spans far beyond GPUs. “We build the GPU, but we also build CPUs, networking, switches — there are a lot of chips associated with Blackwell,” Huang said. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei confirmed that Nvidia has requested more wafers, though exact quantities remain undisclosed.

The two firms share a remarkable growth story. Nvidia recently became the first company to hit a $5 trillion market value, prompting TSMC’s Wei to call Huang a “five-trillion-dollar man.”

On supply chain challenges, Huang admitted that shortages may appear in different areas as demand accelerates. Yet, he expressed confidence, pointing to strong backing from memory chip leaders SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron. All three have ramped up production to keep pace with the AI-driven chip “super cycle.”

South Korea’s SK Hynix has already sold out its chip output for next year, while Samsung confirmed ongoing talks with Nvidia to supply its next-generation HBM4 memory chips.

Despite this global momentum, Nvidia remains unable to sell its top-tier Blackwell chips to China, following continued U.S. restrictions. Huang made clear there are “no active discussions” about resuming such sales.

For now, as the AI boom intensifies, the world’s two biggest chip players — Nvidia and TSMC — appear firmly aligned, powering the next leap in high-performance computing.