Nvidia’s CEO says he will try to prioritize Japan’s requirements for AI processors

Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said the semiconductor giant would do its best to supply its artificial intelligence processors to Japan amid the high market demand, Reuters reported.

Japan aims to rebuild its once world-leading semiconductor infrastructure and catch up on the development of AI technology. The graphics processing units, or GPUs, built by Nvidia currently dominate the market for AI.

“Demand is very high, but I promised the prime minister we will do our very, very best to prioritise Japan’s requirements for GPUs,” Huang said to reporters at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s official residence in Tokyo, the report added.

Huang’s visit comes less than two weeks after Japan passed an extra budget which included about 2T yen (about $13.6B) earmarked for chip investment.

Part of the funds is expected to be kept set aside for a second facility by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, and for homegrown company Rapidus, which is building a plant in Chitose City in Hokkaido.

Last month, it was reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) is thinking of building a third plant in Japan which would make advanced 3-nanometer chips.

“The semiconductor industry that Japan is now starting to grow and foster will be able to produce GPUs,” added Huang.

Huang noted that countries such as Japan are realising that one needs to own their own data, develop it own AI factories and produce its own AI.