Exclusive Nvidia and TSMC unveil first Blackwell chip wafer made in US

Driving the news: Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang visited TSMC’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix on Friday to announce the advance. “You built something incredible, but you will realize in time that you are part of something historic,” Huang told several hundred TSMC employees who gathered to celebrate the announcement.”The single most important chip is now being produced in America,” Huang said.Between the lines: Huang gave President Trump high praise and repeatedly made clear this is “just the beginning” of AI-related manufacturing in US. Huang on multiple occasions lauded Trump’s vision to re-shore manufacturing.What they’re saying: “Nvidia and TSMC are working together to build the infrastructure that powers the world’s AI factories, right here in America,” Nvidia said in a blog post.”TSMC Arizona is expected to create thousands of high-tech jobs and attract a broad ecosystem of suppliers,” Nvidia and TSMC said in a joint statement.”Today we’ve laid the foundation [for the U.S.] to lead the AI race at the infrastructure level,” Huang told the crowd, adding that Nvidia plans to spend a half trillion dollars on AI-related infrastructure in the coming years.Yes, but: The wafer is a crucial first step in re-shoring critical chip production in the U.S., but there’s still a long way to go before the country’s chip demand could be free of dependency on companies and factories overseas.The bottom line: Intense efforts to re-shore key parts of the AI economy are starting to pay off. Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new details throughout.