Taiwan saved U.S. chip industry: Nvidia's Jensen Huang

Dallas, July 22 (CNA) Taiwan saved the United States' semiconductor and computing industries, Nvidia Corp. founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said Tuesday (U.S. time) during a visit to a manufacturing facility built by Taiwan-based Wistron Corp. in Texas.

"Taiwan saved the American semiconductor industry, saved the American computing industry, not the opposite," Huang told reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for Wistron's first U.S. manufacturing facility in Fort Worth.

Without Taiwan, Huang said, the U.S. semiconductor industry might have been taken over by Japan.

He added that Washington should recognize that partnerships with Taiwan and Taiwanese companies are fundamental to rebuilding high-tech manufacturing in the United States.

Taiwanese companies are expanding in the U.S. voluntarily because of their partnerships with American businesses and their own strategic judgment, rather than because they have been coerced, Huang said.

"Taiwan is doing it voluntarily because of its own wisdom, not because it's held a gun to its head," Huang said, adding that the cooperation was founded on trust.

Huang did not comment on whether federal and state subsidies had influenced Taiwanese companies' expansion into the U.S.

Although Huang did not name U.S. President Donald Trump, his comments contrasted with Trump's repeated claims since 2024 that Taiwan had taken or "stolen" the American semiconductor industry.

Trump reiterated the allegation in May, saying in a Fox News interview that Taiwan had "stolen" the U.S. chip industry and arguing that previous administrations should have imposed steep tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors. Taiwan's government rejected that characterization, saying its industry resulted from decades of independent development.

Huang had earlier described Taiwan as the world's "most advanced epicenter" of electronics manufacturing and said the U.S. should be grateful that Taiwanese companies were investing there.

Wistron's D1 facility is its first manufacturing base in the U.S. and has begun mass-producing Nvidia's GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Superchip. The plant is also expected to produce Nvidia's Vera Rubin Superchip.