Nvidia plans to produce AI supercomputers 'entirely' in the US, amid the looming specter of growing tariffs.
The GPU giant said that it would work with its manufacturing partners to commission more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test Blackwell GPUs in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas.
The Blackwell chips have already started production at TSMC’s fabs in Phoenix, Arizona, which were initially funded under the Biden-era CHIPS Act.
Foxconn plans to build supercomputer manufacturing plants in Houston, while Wistron will set up shop in Dallas. Nvidia said that it expects mass production at both plants to ramp up in the next 12-15 months.
Amkor and SPIL will carry out packaging and testing operations in Arizona.
Nvidia said that within the next four years of the Trump term, it plans to produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the United States through its partnerships. It will use its AI, robotics, and digital twin technologies to design and operate the factories, including Omniverse to create digital twins of the facilities and Isaac GR00T to build robots to automate manufacturing.
“The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.
“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 has long planned to have a portion of its GPUs built in the US out of the TSMC fabs, which were first announced in 2020. The Arizona site, which is still being expanded, is believed to have cost around $65bn.
In March, TSMC announced that it would invest $100 billion into the US - with it unclear how much of the previous figure is included in the number - after President Trump criticized Taiwan for 'stealing' America's chip business, said that the CHIPS Act was a failure, and threatened tariffs.
While electronics have been exempted from the 125 percent tariffs against China (the 20 percent tariffs still exist), Trump has said he will announce semiconductor tariffs as soon as this week.
It is not clear if TSMC will be exempted from them due to its investment in the US.
Even if the chips and supercomputers are built in the US, materials, components, and rare earth metals may still be sourced from overseas. Nvidia declined to comment to DCD about where its Mellanox networking gear will be manufactured.
