NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang attended TSMC's annual sports day at the Hsinchu County Stadium on November 8, becoming the center of attention alongside TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei. In a multilingual address mixing Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English, Huang declared, "Without TSMC, there would be no NVIDIA," highlighting the long-standing partnership between the two companies that has fueled the global AI semiconductor boom.

"Who loves TSMC?" Huang asked the crowd with a smile, before answering himself: "I love TSMC! TSMC is amazing!" He likened the relationship between the two firms to that of family, saying, "You treat me like family — NVIDIA is not possible without you." He went on to recall the parallel journeys of both companies: "Thirty-eight years ago, TSMC was a startup. Thirty-two years ago, NVIDIA was also a startup. We've grown together — you are the pride of Taiwan, the pride of the world, and my pride."

Huang also reminisced about writing a letter to TSMC founder Morris Chang three decades ago, which led to his first visit to Taiwan after many years abroad. He expressed his intent to visit Chang and his wife during the trip.

As the crowd cheered enthusiastically, Huang joked, "My Mandarin is terrible, but every time C.C. invites me, I'll keep trying — maybe after many years I'll finally improve." He concluded his speech by shouting, "Go TSMC! You're the best!", once again underlining NVIDIA's deep appreciation for its key manufacturing partner.

When asked about the purpose of Huang's visit, C.C. Wei humorously responded, "He came to ask for more chips." Huang laughed and admitted that business has been exceptionally strong: "Demand is growing every month — TSMC is doing an incredible job. I came here to encourage them and thank them for their hard work." Wei declined to disclose how many additional wafers NVIDIA had requested, calling it "confidential."

Before the event, Huang told reporters that NVIDIA's next-generation Rubin platform had already entered mass production at TSMC's fabs. He added that demand for the current Blackwell series remains extremely strong, covering not only GPUs but also CPUs, networking, and switching chips. According to Taiwan media reports, Huang had already visited TSMC's 3nm fab in Tainan on November 7, where TSMC is expanding monthly 3nm wafer output from around 100,000–110,000 to 160,000 wafers, an increase of up to 50%, primarily to fulfill NVIDIA's growing AI chip orders.

Industry sources indicate that NVIDIA's latest orders include Blackwell Ultra chips and the upcoming Vera Rubin platform, both to be produced using TSMC's N3P process.

As AI infrastructure projects surge globally, demand for high-performance chips has outpaced supply, particularly in memory. Huang acknowledged the challenges: "During rapid growth, some shortages are inevitable, but SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron have all significantly expanded capacity to support us. We are very grateful for that."

Regarding reports of Samsung supplying HBM4 memory for Blackwell, Huang only commented that NVIDIA has "samples of the most advanced chips from every vendor."

On geopolitical topics, Huang reiterated that Taiwan remains critical to global semiconductor manufacturing and said he continues to engage with governments worldwide to help leaders understand the nature and implications of AI technology. "AI is the most important technology of our time," he said. "It will impact every nation, every region, and every enterprise."

When asked about Tesla CEO Elon Musk's recent remarks about possibly building a large chip fabrication plant, Huang was skeptical: "Building advanced chip fabs is extremely difficult. It's not just about the factory — what TSMC does involves engineering, science, and artistry that are irreplaceable, even for someone like Musk."

Huang's repeated visits to Taiwan this year — and his candid declaration that "without TSMC, there would be no NVIDIA" — reflect the ever-deepening ties between the two technology giants at the heart of the global AI chip supply chain.