On May 25, 2023, Nvidia’s market capitalization soared by $184 billion, one of the largest single-day increases in the history of the U.S. stock market. Later that week, the chip giant’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, landed in Taiwan for the first time in four years. He received an uproarious welcome.
Huang is currently on his 11th trip to Taiwan since 2023.
It is easy to understand why he visits so often. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, doesn’t manufacture its own chips. It relies on TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, to build its advanced GPUs, and works with 150 or so other Taiwanese companies in its supply chain. Earlier this year, Huang said that TSMC will need to “work very hard” to meet Nvidia’s demand, which could require the chip maker to double its capacity over the next decade. TSMC is already stretched thin, fulfilling orders not just for Nvidia’s AI chip demand but also for the other major tech giants.
Aside from visiting TSMC’s chief executive, C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Huang engages in extensive public diplomacy every time he visits Taiwan. Speaking at the groundbreaking for Nvidia’s new headquarters in Taipei yesterday, he said that Taiwan is “the epicenter of the AI revolution,” a sentiment he’s repeated often. Huang’s flattery, combined with his use of Hoklo, a local dialect, and his frequent outings to sample local delicacies, has made him a celebrity. The media refers to his popularity in Taiwan as “Jensanity.”
“The American son of Taiwanese immigrants is foremost a businessman, not a patriot. And if he were to play ball, he would bat for Team USA,” Min Chao, an activist and social commentator, wrote in a Medium post. “As more Taiwanese resources and talent power Nvidia’s meteoric growth, there is an ironic twist accompanying the chip giant’s re-entry to the China market,” Min Chao added, referring to the possibility that Taiwanese tech could be used to help China invade Taiwan.
Although Huang, who chats with Trump regularly, seems like a natural champion for Taiwan’s sovereignty, he has rarely spoken publicly on this topic. Huang once referred to Taiwan as a “country” during a street interview in Taipei, but he soon after clarified that he was not making a geopolitical comment.
At another point, Huang appeared to contradict, at least in spirit, his characterization of Taiwan as the center of AI and the idea that it would remain so. “We can theoretically build chips outside of Taiwan, it’s possible” but “the China market cannot be replaced,” Huang said. “So you’ve got to ask yourself which way do you want to push it.”
Still, Huang is perhaps the closest person to Trump with the largest stake in Taiwan’s ability to continue functioning like normal. Huang has said he thinks that it could take the U.S. as much as 20 years to break its dependence on overseas chip manufacturing. TSMC has agreed to invest over $150 billion to develop a chipmaking ecosystem in Arizona, but as of now, more than 90% of advanced chips are still manufactured and packaged in Taiwan.
On Monday, Huang will deliver the keynote speech at the Nvidia GTC conference in Taipei, where he will likely discuss the status of Nvidia’s future Taipei office complex and its next-generation Vera Rubin computing platform. He will also likely speak some Chinese and give a shout out to his parents in the audience. It will likely be a charming performance.
Leave a Reply