Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has reported "very strong demand" for the company's newest, state-of-the-art Blackwell chips, which are designed to power the current Artificial Intelligence boom. This increasing demand for Blackwell chips is directly translating into a growing appetite for wafers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Nvidia's long-time manufacturing partner, as confirmed by Huang during a TSMC event in Hsinchu.

Huang acknowledged and lauded TSMC's crucial support, stating that Nvidia's success would not be possible without their assistance. His fourth public visit to Taiwan this year comes at a time when Nvidia is navigating a loss of market share in China, primarily due to ongoing tariff tensions between Washington and Beijing, as reported by Reuters.

The demand for wafers extends beyond just graphics processing units (GPUs), as Nvidia also develops central processing units (CPUs), networking components, and switches, all integral to the Blackwell ecosystem. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei confirmed that Huang had indeed "asked for wafers," though the exact quantity remains confidential. Wafers, in this context, refer to the thin, round disks that serve as the foundational base for the microscopic electronic circuits found in chips.

Nvidia recently made history by becoming the first company to reach a $5 trillion market value, an achievement celebrated by TSMC's Wei who referred to Huang as a "five-trillion-dollar man."

Addressing concerns about potential memory shortages, Huang stated that while business is growing strongly and there would naturally be shortages of "different things," Nvidia is well-supported. He highlighted the strength of their partnerships with "three very, very good memory makers – SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron – who are all incredibly good, and they have scaled up tremendous capacity to support us." Huang also noted that Nvidia has received the most advanced chip samples from these three memory manufacturers. Regarding possible memory price increases, he deferred, stating, "It's for them to decide how to run their business."

This resilience in the memory supply chain is further underscored by recent announcements. South Korea's SK Hynix reported last week that it had sold out all its chip production for next year and plans to boost further investments, anticipating an extended chip "super cycle" spurred by the AI boom. Similarly, Samsung Electronics confirmed last week that it was in "close discussion" to supply its next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, or HBM4, to Nvidia.

Despite the massive global demand, Nvidia faces significant limitations regarding the sale of its most advanced AI chips. Huang stated on Friday that there were "no active discussions" about selling the Blackwell chips, Nvidia's flagship AI product, to China. This position is a direct consequence of restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which believes such sales could potentially aid the Chinese military and the country's AI industry. In response, the Chinese government has issued official guidance mandating that new data center projects receiving state funds use domestic artificial intelligence chips, as previously reported by Reuters.