NVIDIA and TSMC are in advanced talks to manufacture NVIDIA's high-demand Blackwell AI chips at TSMC's new Arizona facility, starting production as early as the beginning of 2025. This collaboration would add NVIDIA to TSMC's growing list of US-based clients, including Apple and AMD, significantly boosting American AI chip production capacity. While the front-end production will take place in Arizona, the advanced packaging process—specifically chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS)—will remain in Taiwan due to the current lack of CoWoS infrastructure in Arizona. This strategic partnership highlights the increasing importance of domestic semiconductor manufacturing in the United States and the global race for advanced AI technology.
The Blackwell chips, renowned for their 30 times faster performance in tasks such as powering chatbot responses, are crucial for generative AI and accelerated computing applications. Their high demand, evidenced by NVIDIA's record revenue of $35.1 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, has driven the company's significant financial growth. The collaboration between NVIDIA and TSMC represents a major step towards strengthening the US AI supply chain, even if complete domestic production requires future infrastructure investment. The partnership underscores the global competition in the AI chip market and the significant role of Arizona in this burgeoning industry.