World semiconductor chip giants will collect at Taiwan’s high tech expo this week to showcase “the subsequent frontier” for an business dominated by synthetic intelligence.
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang will make a keynote speech on Monday, the eve of Computex, because the tech sector grapples with the influence of US tariffs and disrupted provide chains.
The four-day occasion will draw laptop and chip corporations from all over the world to Taiwan, whose semiconductor business is essential to the manufacturing of every thing from iPhones to the servers that run ChatGPT.
Taiwan produces the majority of the world’s most superior chips, together with these wanted for probably the most highly effective AI functions and analysis.
“I’ve many wonderful bulletins to make,” Huang informed reporters in Taipei on Friday.
“We’re on the coronary heart of the expertise ecosystem and so there are a lot of companions of ours right here and we’re wanting ahead to asserting many collaborations, many new initiatives, many new applied sciences and initiatives collectively.”
High executives from Qualcomm, MediaTek and Foxconn may even converse at Computex, the place advances in transferring AI from information centres into laptops, robots and vehicles shall be within the highlight.
“From Agentic AI driving smarter private units to Bodily AI reshaping autonomy, the present maps out the subsequent frontier,” specialist analysis agency Counterpoint stated in a observe.
Tech professional Paul Yu informed AFP the business was at a “essential juncture” for AI {hardware} growth.
“Over the previous two and a half years, important funding has pushed speedy advances in AI expertise,” stated Yu, of Witology Markettrend Analysis Institute.
“2025 to 2026 would be the essential interval for transitioning AI mannequin coaching into worthwhile functions.”
‘Taiwan to proceed to thrive’
Whereas US tariffs have been the largest subject going through the sector, most corporations at Computex “will draw back from addressing tariffs straight because the state of affairs is simply too unsure,” stated Eric Smith of specialist platform TechInsights.
Final month, Washington introduced a nationwide safety probe into imports of semiconductor expertise, which might put the business within the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s commerce bazooka and inflict probably devastating levies.
Since taking workplace in January, Trump has threatened hefty tariffs in opposition to lots of America’s greatest commerce companions with the purpose of forcing corporations to maneuver manufacturing to US soil.
Export-dependent Taiwan has pledged to extend funding in the USA because it seeks to keep away from a 32 % US tariff on its shipments.
However there are considerations the island might lose its dominance of the chip sector — the so-called “silicon protect” defending it from an invasion or blockade by China and an incentive for the USA to defend it.
TSMC, the Taiwanese contract chipmaking large, has unveiled plans to inject an extra $100 billion into the USA, on high of the $65 billion already pledged.
TSMC-supplier GlobalWafers additionally introduced plans final week to extend its US funding by $4 billion because the Taiwanese firm opened a wafer facility within the US state Texas.
However Huang was optimistic on Friday when requested concerning the influence of tariffs on Taiwan, saying the island would “stay on the centre of the expertise ecosystem”.
“There are such a lot of sensible corporations right here, there are such a lot of revolutionary and spirited corporations,” Huang stated.
“I absolutely anticipate Taiwan to proceed to thrive… earlier than, after, all through.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
