The big picture: If this photo could speak a thousand words, it would mention Nvidia, TSMC, and Quanta Computer. When top executives from these companies gather for dinner and stroll through a Taiwanese night market, the industry speculates on potential discussions: Nvidia might be setting up a second R&D center in Taiwan or collaborating with MediaTek and Intel on Arm-based CPUs for mobile computing. Or perhaps, it was simply a pleasant evening for busy executives.
For chip enthusiasts, it’s a historical photo: Barry Lam, founder and chairman of Quanta Computer, Jensen Huang, co-founder, president, and CEO of Nvidia, and Morris Chang, founder and former CEO of TSMC, are seen together after an outing at the Ningxia night market in Taipei, Taiwan.
They were there for the beginning of Computex 2024, and while the photo shows a casual group enjoying a pleasant evening, fans and media flocked around them.
Another notable figure in the photos is Kris Yao, one of Taiwan’s top architects who designed three TSMC facilities and the Quanta R&D Center. However, the attention was on the tech luminaries. Why were these four together? What did they discuss besides business? Was this just a casual dinner?
Possibly, it was a group of businesspeople enjoying a significant country for their interests. Earlier this week, Huang described Taiwan as “one of the most important countries in the world. It is the center of the electronics industry and the computer industry.”
Huang, who seemingly enjoys night markets, also visited the Linjiang Street Night Market during this trip, where he ate mango ice and bought fruits, according to media reports.
Another possibility: Nvidia might be planning to increase its investment in Taiwan. Conversations among this trio could have touched on that. In April, the China Times reported that the Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs indicated Nvidia’s current R&D efforts are “going smoothly” and it aims to “assist our manufacturers in AI application development”.
Rumor has it Nvidia is considering a second R&D center in Taiwan, two years after opening its first Asian AI R&D center in the country. TSMC’s involvement would be crucial to this project.
Another possibility: Tom’s Hardware suggests that this photo supports reports of Nvidia collaborating with MediaTek and Intel on Arm-based CPUs for mobile computing. Having Quanta involved would be logical if this project materializes.
Or perhaps they discussed the big announcement Huang plans to make tomorrow at Computex at 7 pm at the NTU Sports Center. When asked by reporters for details, he teased, “You are going to have to see the speech.”
