AI Initiative in Taiwan Nvidia Founder Jensen Huang Discovers His Taiwanese Roots for AI

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The founder and CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, believes in a key role for Taiwan in the global AI race and plans to build an AI supercomputer on the island with partners.

On the sidelines of the Computex Taipei 2025 chip fair, Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang announced plans to build an AI supercomputer on the island in collaboration with leading technology companies Foxconn and TSMC, as well as the government in Taipei. Huang also mentioned that Nvidia intends to construct a new headquarters, called "Nvidia Constellation," in the Beitou-Shilin Science Park in Taipei. He stated that the current office buildings of the world's leading AI chip manufacturer in Taiwan have become too small.

"It is obvious that Taiwan is at the center of the most advanced industry — the epicenter from which AI and robotics will emerge," the South China Morning Post quoted the Nvidia CEO as saying. "This is also the largest manufacturing region for electronics in the world," Huang said. He himself is from the city of Tainan in the south of the island. He emigrated to the USA with his parents at the age of nine. Since Nvidia became the most valuable semiconductor company in the world, he is celebrated like an internationally successful rock star visiting his homeland during his visits to Taiwan.

Team Taiwan

Shortly before and during this year's Computex fair, Huang appeared with virtually every prominent tech entrepreneur in Taiwan on the stage of a discussion forum or at a joint meal. Foxconn Chairman Young Liu referred to Huang as the "leader of Team Taiwan," as reported by Reuters. MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai brought him a plastic bag of guava from his favorite fruit vendor in Taipei to the fair.

Taiwan's media has coined the term "Jensanity" to describe the near-insanity level of admiration that follows Jensen Huang everywhere on the island. He has to scribble autographs on T-shirts and repeatedly pose for selfies.

The announcements of strengthened cooperation with leading contract manufacturers like Foxconn and TSMC and the investment in a large new headquarters nevertheless came as a surprise to most observers. It was the first time that Huang, who had previously often emphasized the importance of the chip market on the Chinese mainland for his company, seemed to explore his Taiwanese roots to this extent.

Dancing at All the Parties

Only a few days before his speech on the eve of Computex, Huang traveled to Saudi Arabia with U.S. President Donald Trump. There, he signed, among other things, the mega-deal for the delivery of 18,000 GPUs to Humain, with which the government-funded company plans to build AI data centers.

However, while the Trump administration would prefer to see all chip factories in the USA, Huang apparently also considers the semiconductor supply chains in his Taiwanese homeland to be a valuable asset for Nvidia's further growth. Thus, he is not relying solely on his strategically wise alliance with Washington's foreign trade policy and investments in production lines in the USA.

Blackwells for Taiwan

The new AI supercomputer, which will make Taiwan an essential player in the global AI race overnight, will be equipped with the "Blackwell Ultra" system, as announced at a Foxconn press conference on the sidelines of the trade fair.

His company plans to use the supercomputer, built together with Nvidia, for future research and development of new chips, the Japanese business magazine Nikkei Asia quoted C.C. Wei, Chairman and CEO of TSMC. "By leveraging advanced AI infrastructures, we enable our researchers to accelerate breakthroughs in semiconductor technology, thereby creating next-generation solutions for our customers and the world," Wei said.

Taiwan is "at the center of the AI revolution," Jensen Huang said during one of his speeches in Taipei. During the Taipei fair, the Nvidia CEO announced that he would open his platform to other chip manufacturers, who can use it for semi-customized AI infrastructures in the future. Partners like MediaTek, Marvell, or Alchip will be able to develop their own custom AI chips using the new product "NVLink Fusion," while still utilizing Nvidia's technology. Until now, this infrastructure was only accessible with Nvidia chips. (sb)