The biggest AI chipmaker in the world is designing and constructing factories to build AI supercomputers fully in the U.S. for the first time.
Nvidia announced on Monday that it has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space in the U.S., including one plant in Arizona to build and test AI chips and two factories in Texas to construct AI supercomputers.
Nvidia stated that through these factories, it intends to produce up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. within the next four years.
“The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in a press release. “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. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Nvidia will be collaborating with Amkow and Siliconware Precision Industries in Arizona to package and test AI chips.
Nvidia noted that it has already started producing its AI chips at Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) factories in Phoenix, while it partners with electronics manufacturers Foxconn and Wistron to build two supercomputer manufacturing factories in Dallas and Houston.
The Texas facilities will start mass production within 12 to 15 months.
Related: How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Transformed a Graphics Card Company Into an AI Giant: ‘One of the Most Remarkable Business Pivots in History’
The news arrives nearly a week after President Donald Trump levied a 32% tariff on Taiwan, where Nvidia makes most of its AI chips, and a 145% tariff on China. Trump temporarily excluded smartphones, computers, and AI chips from the tariffs late Friday evening but said on Sunday that he would announce a new tariff rate on imported chips this week.
“We want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,” Trump said while speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night, per Fox Business.
The White House stated on Monday that Nvidia’s move to manufacture AI chips in the U.S. was an example of “the Trump effect in action.”
“President Donald J. Trump has made U.S.-based chips manufacturing a priority as part of his relentless pursuit of an American manufacturing renaissance, and it’s paying off,” the White House wrote in a press release.
Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says the New ChatGPT Needs ‘100 Times More’ of His Company’s AI Chips
Nvidia is planning to use its own AI to help operate the facilities. For example, the Nvidia Isaac GR00T, an AI model for humanoid robots that the company first announced last month, will be used to build robots to work within the factories.Nvidia is the third most valuable company in the world, with a market cap of $2.7 trillion at the time of writing. The company has between 70% to 95% of the market share for AI chips.
