Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) today dismissed a local media report that claimed Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) visited Taiwan late last month to deliver a message from US President Donald Trump's administration.
TSMC said Huang, a Taiwan-born naturalized US citizen, came at the company's invitation to give an internal speech.
Photo: CNA
Chinese-language Mirror Media had reported that Huang's trip was aimed at pressing TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) to share profits on behalf of the Trump administration.
Citing industry sources, the magazine said that Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) had agreed to hand over 15 percent of revenue from artificial intelligence (AI) chip sales to China to the US government in exchange for approval to sell controlled products in China.
Huang arrived in Taiwan by private jet on Aug. 22, spoke to TSMC executives at the company's research and development center in Hsinchu City, and attended a belated birthday celebration for TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀).
He also joined Wei and other TSMC executives for dinner before returning to the US shortly afterward, ending a whirlwind visit that lasted about 13 hours.
TSMC today said that it has smooth communication channels with the US government and that the CEO of Nvidia — the world's largest company in terms of market capitalization as of last month — was invited by TSMC to give a speech.
On Aug. 22, Wei was asked about reported US government plans to take an equity stake in TSMC in exchange for subsidies.
"They have already announced that they will not take shares," he said.
At the time, TSMC stated there had never been any discussions of equity participation and that communication with the US government has been smooth and positive.
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