On March 19, pressure from Washington on TSMC intensified. Despite pledging a whopping $165 billion for US investments, the chip giant now faces a new demand: move 40% of its total capacity to American soil. This isn't about old fabs; the target is TSMC's crown jewels—advanced process technology.

The US is pushing for the transfer of capacity for 3nm, 2nm, and future A16, A14 nodes, aiming to transplant the very core of TSMC's competitiveness. This has sent shockwaves through the global semiconductor supply chain.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang pushed back at GTC. He stated that moving 40% of TSMC's capacity to the US is "very difficult." While supporting TSMC's US expansion, he clarified that the logic should be about global capacity additions, not a transfer. He argued that future demand will outstrip TSMC's current home-base capacity, making a multi-site footprint a win-win for global resilience, not a one-sided move.

ICgoodFind : Forcing 40% of TSMC's capacity to the US ignores industry realities and is operationally a nightmare. The global chip supply chain's current structure isn't easily rewritten.