NVIDIA Confirms First US-Made Blackwell Chip Wafer Produced by TSMC Arizona
In a first for the U.S. semiconductor industry, TSMC's Arizona facility has produced its first wafer for NVIDIA's Blackwell chips on U.S. soil, so announced NVIDIA's CEO. This marks a significant step in the ongoing effort to bring crucial technology manufacturing back to the United States.
A Historic Moment for US Manufacturing
This announcement represents an overarching effort influenced by the Trump administration largely towards the revival of U.S. manufacturing. NVIDIA has previously announced a $500 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing, which led its suppliers, including Foxconn and Quanta, to also set up U.S. facilities. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang visited Phoenix to celebrate this milestone alongside TSMC Arizona's CEO, Ray Chuang.
In a blog entry, Huang elaborated on the significance of the achievement:
This is a historic moment for several reasons. It’s the very first time in recent American history that the single most important chip is being manufactured here in the United States by the most advanced fab, by TSMC, here in the United States. This is the vision of President Trump of reindustrialization to bring back manufacturing to America...this is the single most vital manufacturing industry and the most important technology industry in the world.
Future Plans Advanced Processes Coming to Arizona
This is only the beginning for TSMC's U.S. operations. NVIDIA also stated that TSMC plans to introduce several of its most advanced chipmaking processes to the Arizona facility, including:
- two-, three-, and four-nanometer chips
- the advanced A16 (1.6nm) process
The introduction of these cutting-edge nodes indicates a long-term commitment to establishing a leading-edge semiconductor hub in America.
From Wafer To AI Chip
The first wafer was produced by TSMC Arizona within six months of announcing plans to go ahead with Blackwell production. While this wafer production is one of the major initial steps, it will go through other complex processes like layering, patterning, etching, and dicing, eventually turning the silicon into finished deployable AI chips.
This recent development indicates the mapping of America into one of the semiconductor hubs, growing alongside the established ones in Taiwan.
