The CEOs of two of the most influential chip firms in the world have met to discuss supply constraints, an obstacle to the ongoing rise in artificial intelligence.
Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) C. C. Wei met in Taipei this week to discuss AI chip supply constraints, as the heads of two of the biggest companies associated with such chips. TSMC produces the Nvidia chips that currently power most of the world’ generative AI training systems, reports Bloomberg.
Huang’s latest trip to Taipei came after the 60-year-old’s first visit to mainland China in four years, at the same time as the United States has blocked the export of America-based Nvidia’s range of high-end chips to China. Huang spoke openly to press on Thursday, January 25 about Taiwan (his birth country) and TSMC’s importance in Nvidia’s business and the wider production and sale of chips.
“The single greatest challenge in AI, of course, is scaling the capacity of AI,” Huang said before heading into his company’s local annual Lunar New Year celebrations. “We’re working very hard, TSMC, all of our supply chain partners here, are working very hard to keep up with the demand.”
US sanctions impacting the scale of AI
Huang has previously implied that an escalation of US sanctions against China could drive local Chinese firms to develop their own alternatives, offering more competition that could damage US companies down the line. In particular, the CEO has directly referenced Huawei, who included a China-made processor in a smartphone in 2023. The worry appears to be if Chinese chips can be found in smartphones, could they also be used to power generative AI?
For Nvidia, this could be bad news, as a company that tripled its market value last year, largely due to its hefty stake in AI development through its chips. Similarly, AI is responsible for much of TSMC’s recent success, with the company announcing a projected increase in capital spending just last week.
