Nvidia sees ‘very strong’ demand for Blackwell chips — here’s what CEO Jensen Huang said

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Saturday that the chipmaker is experiencing “very strong demand” for its newest, cutting-edge Blackwell chips designed to power the current Artificial Intelligence boom.

Huang also noted that rising demand for Blackwell chips has translated into Nvidia’s long-time manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)’s growing appetite for wafers.

Speaking at a TSMC event in Hsinchu, Huang acknowledged the company’s strong support. “TSMC is doing a great job supporting us very well,” he said, adding that Nvidia’s success would not have been possible without TSMC.

Huang made his fourth public visit to Taiwan this year as the semiconductor giant struggles with loss of market share in China due to tariff tensions between Washington and Beijing. Reuters reported.

Demand for wafers is increasing

“Nvidia makes the GPU (graphics processing units), but we also build the CPU (central processing units), networking, switches, and so there are a lot of chips associated with Blackwell,” Huang told reporters at an event.

TSMC CEO CC Wei confirmed that Huang “asked for wafers,” but the exact amount remained secret. Wafers refer to thin, round disks that serve as the basis for microscopic electronic circuits found on chips.

Nvidia made history in October by becoming the first company to reach a $5 trillion market cap, and TSMC’s Wei celebrated the achievement by calling Huang the “five trillion dollar man.”

Supply chain flexibility

When asked how worried Huang was about memory shortages, he responded by noting that Nvidia was well supported, although business was growing strongly and there were shortages of “different things.”

“We have three very, very good memory manufacturers – SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron – they are all incredibly good memory manufacturers, and they have increased their tremendous capacity to support us,” Huang said, adding that the chipmaker has received samples of the most advanced chips from these three memory manufacturers.

When asked about possible increases in the price of memory, he said: “It’s up to them to decide how they run their business.”

South Korea’s SK Hynix announced last week that it has sold off all chip production for next year and plans to invest more as the company anticipates an extended chip “super cycle” spurred by the AI ​​boom.

Samsung Electronics also said last week that it was in “close discussions” to supply its next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, or HBM4, to Nvidia.

Will Blackwell chips be sold in China?

Despite intense global demand, Nvidia faces limitations on sales of its most advanced AI chips. Huang said on Friday that there was “no active discussion” about selling Blackwell chips, Nvidia’s flagship AI chip, to China.

This position is a direct result of the Trump administration’s restrictions on such sales; because the government believes they can help the Chinese military and the country’s artificial intelligence industry.

In response, the Chinese government also issued official guidance requiring new data center projects receiving government funding to use domestic AI chips. Reuters It was previously reported.