Asia stocks fall as Fed caution grows; China inflation underwhelms
By Akash Sriram and Arsheeya Bajwa
(Reuters) - Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) said it is planning to build AI servers worth as much as $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years with help from partners such as TSMC, the latest American tech firm to back the Trump administration’s push for local manufacturing.
Monday’s announcement includes production of its Blackwell AI chips at TSMC’s factory at Phoenix, Arizona and supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas by Foxconn (SS:601138) and Wistron that are expected to ramp up in 12 to 15 months.
The move aligns the AI chip giant, majority of whose processors are made in Taiwan, with a clutch of tech firms that have pledged to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. amid threats of steep tariffs from President Donald Trump.
"It is unlikely Nvidia would have moved any production to the U.S. if it was not for pressure from the Trump administration," said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria.
"The half a trillion number is likely hyperbole, in the same way Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) made a half a trillion promise."
Apple, which assembles most of its iPhones in China, in February promised half a trillion dollars in the U.S. investments in the next four years, including a factory in Texas for artificial intelligence servers.
Nvidia’s announcement comes just hours after the U.S. exempted electronics such as smartphones and chips from its reciprocal tariffs on China, but said it would be announcing the tariff rate on imported chips over the next week.
The exemptions indicate an increasing awareness within the Trump administration of the pain that the tariffs could inflict on inflation-weary consumers as well as the booming AI industry that relies on chip-related tools from China and Taiwan.
"Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Monday.
Manufacturing AI chips and supercomputers in the U.S. will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the coming decades, Nvidia said.
"The reason they did it is because of the election on November 5, and because of the thing called tariffs," Trump said on Nvidia’s announcement during a briefing in the White House.
Huang had in March said Nvidia sees little short-term impact from higher U.S. tariffs, but would move production to the U.S. in the longer term, without giving a timeline.
The company said on Monday TSMC has started the production of its latest generation of chips at its Arizona factory.