According to recent reports, production of Nvidia GPUs could be halted immediately if China invades Taiwan, as the machines used to manufacture them at TSMC reportedly have a remote kill switch. TSMC, a major chipmaker, took over GPU production for Nvidia with the launch of its Ada Lovelace architecture in 2022, and will also produce the upcoming Blackwell gaming GPUs for the company.
Not only Nvidia, but also AMD relies on TSMC for manufacturing its Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs, despite both companies being based in the US. TSMC is a popular choice for silicon manufacturing due to its cutting-edge facilities and expertise. ASML Holding Nv, a Dutch company, provides many of the machines used in TSMC’s factories, and is reported to have the capability to remotely disable them in the event of an invasion by China.
Bloomberg has reported that the Netherlands has conducted simulations to assess the risks of a potential invasion of Taiwan by China, with ASML’s remote disconnection feature being a key point of discussion. This feature applies to the EUV technology used to manufacture advanced silicon chips, such as AMD’s Zen 4 Ryzen CPUs and Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace GPUs.
TSMC’s CEO Mark Liu previously stated in a 2022 interview that the company would cease production in the event of military force or invasion, reaffirming the potential impact of a conflict in the region on chip production. While this news may reassure the US government in terms of preventing China from producing US-designed chips, it could lead to significant supply shortages in the tech industry given TSMC’s crucial role in chip manufacturing for various companies, including Nvidia, AMD, and Apple.
With both Nvidia and AMD expected to release new products by the end of 2024, any disruption in TSMC’s production capabilities could have widespread repercussions in the tech world, affecting the availability of new products and potentially causing delays or shortages. The upcoming Computex fair in June is likely to provide more insights into AMD’s new Zen 5 CPUs and the overall industry outlook.
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https://www.pcgamesn.com/nvidia/taiwan-china-tsmc-chip-production
