Nvidia's Jensen Huang to attend opening of new SPIL plant Thursday

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Taiwan-based IC packaging and testing services provider Siliconware Precision Industries Co. (SPIL) said American artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia Corp. founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) will visit the company Thursday, to attend the opening ceremony of a new plant in Taichung, central Taiwan.

In an invitation to the press, SPIL, a fully-owned subsidiary of the world's largest IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co., said it welcomes Huang's visit to the new plant located in the Taichung Tanzi Technology Industrial Park.

SPIL said its Chairman C.W. Tsai (蔡祺文) will meet with Huang to show "the close collaboration between the two companies, working toward creating a new era of AI chips."

According to the invitation, the opening ceremony is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. and last for about 30 minutes Thursday. Huang is expected to speak with the press at around 4:20 p.m., SPIL said.

It will be the first public event for Huang in Taiwan this year. In the past, he has been closely followed by the local media and came under the spotlight when global news outlets reported on Nvidia's AI chip development as he was visiting the country.

Industrial sources told CNA that Huang's visit to SPIL aims to secure production of 3D Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) IC packaging services used in AI chip manufacturing.

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which has entered advanced CoWoS technology development, has outsourced the services to SPIL to meet strong global demand, the sources said.

As its CoWoS services have secured certification, SPIL is expected to raise Industrial sources told CNA that Huang's visit to SPIL aims to secure production of 3D Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) IC packaging services used in AI chip manufacturing.

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which has entered advanced CoWoS technology development, has outsourced the services to SPIL to meet strong global demand, the sources said.

As its CoWoS services have secured certification, SPIL is expected to raise production gradually starting from the second quarter of this year, the sources added.

Market speculation indicates Huang will attend the "weiya" or year-end dinner hosted by Nvidia's subsidiary in Taiwan.

In addition, he is said to meet with Taiwan tech company executives from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Quanta Computer Inc. and Inventec Corp., which all roll out AI servers powered by Nvidia's chips, as well as PC brands Asustek Computer Inc. and Micro-Star International Co. However, these companies all declined to comment.

Before he arrives in Taiwan, international news media reported Huang is attending the Lunar New Year celebration of Nvidia's subsidiary in Shenzhen Wednesday before traveling to Shanghai and Beijing.

Nvidia has stayed mum about Huang's trips to China and Taiwan.

The market is paying close attention to whether Huang will meet with Chinese government officials days after the Biden administration unveiled a new set of sweeping restrictions on sales by Nvidia and other AI chip developers.

China has been placed in the most restricted third tier of AI chip sanctions comprised of 22 countries, which are newly subject to restrictions on transfers of the most powerful closed-weight frontier AI models.

In response, Nvidia vice president Ned Frankle said the Biden administration "seeks to undermine America's leadership," and the new rule "threatens to derail innovation and economic growth worldwide."

Nvidia's filings showed that 56 percent of Nvidia's sales come from customers outside the United States with China accounting for 17 percent.