Nvidia wins approval for Taiwan headquarters to secure AI chip supply

The Taiwan government has cleared Nvidia to establish a NT$3.3 billion (US$105 million) headquarters on the island that produces most of the world’s advanced semiconductors, which the Silicon Valley chip designer will need to feed the red-hot global artificial intelligence sector.

Nvidia would use the Taipei site for a “commercial office” building and the acquisition of land for a “comprehensive business park”, the island’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on Wednesday.

Although neither company confirmed a meeting, analysts said Nvidia – reportedly TSMC’s biggest client after displacing Apple – had to ensure sufficient capacity to meet global demand for AI-enabled chips that power data centres and cloud services.

“Production capacity is booked well in advance,” said Stefan Angrick, associate director and senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. “Taiwan is the world’s dominant producer of advanced semiconductors, and it makes sense now that AI is bleeding into all kinds of devices.”

Nvidia is reportedly TSMC’s biggest client after displacing Apple. Photo: Shutterstock

TSMC, founded in 1987, manufactures chips at or below the 5-nanometre process, which enables faster computing with lower power use. The firm produced around 70 per cent of the world’s chips last year, according to tech market consultant Counterpoint Research.

South China Morning Post