INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Nvidia announced plans today to manufacture AI chips and build complete supercomputers on US soil for the first time, commissioning over one
million square feet of manufacturing space across Arizona and Texas
The politically timed move comes amid rising US-China tensions and the Trump administration's push for domestic manufacturing.Nvidia's
announcement comes less than two weeks after the Trump administration's chaotic rollout of new tariffs and just two days after the
administration's contradictory messages on electronic component exemptions.On Friday night, the US Customs and Border Protection posted a
bulletin exempting electronics including smartphones, computers, and semiconductors from Trump's steep reciprocal tariffs
But by Sunday, Trump and his commerce secretary Howard Lutnick contradicted this move, claiming the exemptions were only temporary and that
electronics would face new "semiconductor tariffs" in the coming months.Nvidia says it has already begun producing its Blackwell chips at
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC) facilities in Phoenix
Until now, the company's AI chips have been manufactured exclusively in Taiwan, presenting geopolitical risks to the supply chain.The
production expected to ramp up within 12 to 15 months."The engines of the world's AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for
the first time," said Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and CEO, in a news release
"Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our
supply chain, and boosts our resiliency."
The TSMC facility in Phoenix.
Credit:
The Washington Post via Getty Images
For chip packaging and testing operations, Nvidia is
collaborating with Amkor and SPIL in Arizona
The supply chain for building the kinds of advanced GPUs that accelerate training and running AI models requires advanced manufacturing,
packaging, and testing technologies that each partner works together to provide.The development also comes days after Nvidia reportedly
avoided export controls on its H20 chip by striking a domestic manufacturing deal with the Trump administration
The H20 is Nvidia's most powerful AI chip that can still be legally exported to China under current US restrictions; it's designed with
reduced specifications to comply with export controls while maintaining compatibility with Nvidia's CUDA platform
According to reporting from TechCrunch and NPR, the H20, which can still be exported to China, was spared after Huang promised to invest
capital into components for US-based AI data centers.
