Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s 1996 decision to work with TSMC rested on confidence that the foundry could help resolve problems no contract could fully anticipate, and the collaboration has continued for 30 years.
Huang spoke to Lex Clips on Oct. 17 and recounted how Nvidia sought a foundry in 1996, amid wider adoption of personal computers and rising semiconductor demand. He said some foundries made access to production lines conditional on customers licensing their technology. TSMC and UMC, he said, offered manufacturing without that requirement.
After calls to TSMC’s U.S. office went unanswered, Huang said, he wrote to founder Morris Chang, who later called and invited him to Taiwan. Huang visited TSMC and UMC on the same day, and both wanted Nvidia as a customer, he said. TSMC’s stated standards for governance, integrity and partnership helped determine Huang’s choice.
Huang said Chang was open about TSMC’s limitations. Chang told him the foundry would work through obstacles if the companies partnered, Huang said. He said the foundry had honored that commitment through three decades of cooperation.
Huang said teams cannot map every technical detail or future complication before a chipmaking project starts. “It wasn’t about what to buy. It was about who you’re choosing to work with,” he said.
Huang said a partnership can tilt toward one side at times, while its gains may balance out over time. He compared this with Nvidia’s employee relationships, saying people continue choosing to work together alongside formal agreements.
Huang cautioned that the semiconductor industry could remember episodes of short-term price competition for years. For the Nvidia-TSMC partnership to endure, Huang said, both companies need to demonstrate in business decisions and everyday work that they want the other to succeed.
