Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says AI Memory Needs Are Rising During Taiwan Trip, Backs TSMC's Global Expansion, Dismisses China H200 Rumors

On Thursday, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said during a visit to Taiwan that surging AI demand is rapidly increasing the need for advanced memory.

AI's Next Bottleneck Is Memory, Not Just Compute

Huang said the future of artificial intelligence will be shaped as much by memory as by computing power, reported UDN, one of the leading media platforms in Taiwan.

He noted that modern AI models need to think, respond and reason at extremely high speeds, driving a sharp rise in memory capacity requirements across the industry.

Nvidia Works With All Major HBM Suppliers

The Nvidia CEO also highlighted that the company collaborates with every major high-bandwidth memory supplier, including SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU).

He said Nvidia relies heavily on these partners to meet soaring demand this year.

Taiwan Capacity Not Transferred To The US: Huang

Huang rejected concerns that the U.S. has shifted about 40% of Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing capacity stateside.

Instead, he said global chip production should be viewed as expanding, with new capacity being added in the U.S., Europe and Japan while Taiwan remains a key manufacturing hub.

TSMC Remains Nvidia's Irreplaceable Foundry Partner

Huang praised Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) as the world's best foundry partner, citing its technology leadership, execution and flexibility.

He said TSMC will need to significantly scale capacity over the next decade, with most production staying in Taiwan alongside overseas expansion.

H200 China Approval Reports Are False

Huang dismissed rumors circulating in mainland China that Nvidia's H200 AI chips have received regulatory approval, saying no orders have been placed and final clearance is still pending.

If approval comes, he said, Nvidia is prepared to move quickly with partners to deliver products.

Previously, it was reported that the clearance was granted during Huang's visit to China, where he's kicking off the company's annual events ahead of the Lunar New Year in mid-February.

Nvidia's H200 Chip Sits At Center Of US-China Tensions 

Nvidia's H200 AI chip has become a flashpoint in U.S.-China tech tensions. While Washington has approved shipments, Beijing has yet to fully clear imports.

This has fueled a gray market where servers equipped with eight H200 GPUs have sold at roughly a 50% premium, or about 2.3 million yuan ($330,000). Separate reports have said China may restrict domestic purchases of the chips to research-only applications.

A prior report said Chinese technology firms placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips last month, far exceeding Nvidia's available supply.

Price Action: Nvidia shares closed up 0.52% at $192.51 on Thursday and then slipped 0.71% in after-hours trading to $191.15, according to Benzinga Pro.

Nvidia scores strongly on the Quality metric in Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, supported by a favorable price trend across the short, medium and long-term horizons.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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