Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, a leader in the AI chip sector, clarified that he did not participate in a consortium to acquire a stake in Intel, which is facing management difficulties. During a global press conference held on the 19th in San Jose, California, at Nvidia’s annual developer conference (GTC 2025), Huang stated when asked about the consortium involvement, “No one invited us to the consortium.”
Previously, Reuters reported that TSMC, the largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, is planning to operate Intel’s foundry division by forming a consortium. Reuters also mentioned that companies like Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, and Qualcomm were expected to participate in the consortium. However, CEO Huang reiterated, “No one called me,” adding, “Maybe others are involved, but I don’t know,” and humorously remarked, “There might be a party somewhere, but I wasn’t invited.”
In his keynote speech the day before, Huang announced a roadmap for AI chips to be released by 2028, starting with the Blackwell Ultra, an upgraded version of the latest AI chip, Blackwell, later this year. Regarding the possibility of incorporating Samsung Electronics’ 5th generation high-bandwidth memory HBM3e in Blackwell Ultra, he briefly mentioned, “We expect Samsung’s involvement,” acknowledging Samsung’s capability to integrate ASICs (custom chips) with memory in the base die (critical component at the bottom of HBM).
At CES 2025, the world’s largest IT and electronics exhibition held last January, he mentioned regarding Samsung’s HBM that they are “currently testing and are confident of success,” but noted, “Samsung needs to make a new design.”
Huang also praised China’s AI technology. When asked how to seize opportunities in China if there are no technological or trade wars, he responded, “Companies must serve their customers well while complying with the law,” without making a direct comment. He further observed, “I found that 50% of AI researchers in the U.S. are Chinese,” indicating that “this is unparalleled, and there are outstanding Chinese individuals without exception in all U.S. AI labs.” He noted, “China produces a vast number of scientists, making their significant contribution to AI research inevitable.”
Regarding the tariff policies of the Donald Trump administration, Huang predicted, “There won’t be a significant short-term impact,” while emphasizing, “In the long run, we must produce (AI chips) domestically in the U.S., and we will do so.”