White House claims 'the Trump Effect in action' as Nvidia announces plans to build AI chips and supercomputers in the US

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Nvidia says it's joining with "leading manufacturing partners" to design and build factories that will enable it to build and test Nvidia Blackwell chip and AI supercomputers entirely in the US for the first time ever, an initiative it says will produce up to $500 billion in "AI infrastructure."

"Nvidia Blackwell chips have started production at TSMC’s chip plants in Phoenix, Arizona," the company said in today's announcement. "Nvidia is building supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas, with Foxconn in Houston and with Wistron in Dallas. Mass production at both plants is expected to ramp up in the next 12-15 months.

Nvidia said its AI supercomputers "are the engines of a new type of data center created for the sole purpose of processing artificial intelligence," and regardless of what AI ultimately delivers there's no question it's the thing of the moment and Nvidia clearly has high hopes for its made-in-America plan: The company said manufacturing all these chips and supercomputers "is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and drive trillions of dollars in economic security over the coming decades."

“The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” Huang said in the statement. "Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency."

The Trump administration was quick to take credit for Nvidia's announcement, calling it "the Trump Effect in action." But others have said the move is not the result of current policies but rather the CHIPS Act, signed into law in 2022 during the Biden administration: TSMC, one of the manufacturing partners named in the Nvidia announcement, received nearly $12 billion in direct funding and loans as a result of the CHIPS Act. Ironically, Trump has previously expressed a desire to kill the act, calling it a "horrible, horrible thing" in March and saying the same results could be achieved through the imposition of tariffs.

President Trump is bringing jobs back to American! Onshoring tech manfacturing back to the US is essential to our national security! — (Image credit: Mike Waltz (Twitter))

Nvidia's announcement comes amidst the chaos of US president Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs against the rest of the world, primarily China: On Friday, the Trump administration exempted phones and computer hardware from the massive 145% tariffs being applied to goods made in China, but by Sunday Trump said there was no exemption, and that those products are simply "moving to a different tariff 'bucket'," which may or may not be announced this week.

The announcement of new US-based manufacturing comes just days after after Nvidia reportedly managed to avoid the imposition of export controls on its H20 chip, the most powerful chip it produces that can be legally exported to China: Two sources told NPR that the H20 walkback followed Huang's attendance at a $1 million-per-person dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.