According to Andrew Ng, China barred its major tech companies from buying Nvidia chips, signaling progress toward reduced reliance on U.S.-designed advanced semiconductors that are largely manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan. Source: Andrew Ng on X, Sep 25, 2025. Ng added that this move underscores growing U.S. vulnerability to possible disruptions in Taiwan as China becomes less exposed. Source: Andrew Ng on X, Sep 25, 2025. He stated that after the U.S. restricted AI chip sales to China, China dramatically ramped up semiconductor research and investment toward self-sufficiency, and results are starting to appear. Source: Andrew Ng on X, Sep 25, 2025. As evidence, Ng cited that the DeepSeek-R1-Safe model was trained on 1000 Huawei Ascend chips and highlighted Huawei’s system-level design, including the CloudMatrix 384 system that aims to compete with Nvidia’s GB200 built from 72 higher-capability chips. Source: Andrew Ng on X, Sep 25, 2025. Ng emphasized that U.S. access to advanced semiconductors is still heavily dependent on TSMC, noting one TSMC Arizona fab is operating but that workforce, licensing, permitting, and supply-chain hurdles remain before it can substitute for Taiwan production. Source: Andrew Ng on X, Sep 25, 2025. He warned that if China achieves manufacturing independence faster than the U.S., the U.S. becomes more vulnerable to Taiwan supply interruptions, and that dependence on a single manufacturer invites shortages, price spikes, and stalled innovation. Source: Andrew Ng on X, Sep 25, 2025.

According to @StockMKTNewz, the Wall Street Journal reports that Intel (INTC) has approached Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) about potential investments or manufacturing partnerships. Source: Wall Street Journal via @StockMKTNewz. TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry and a leader in advanced nodes used for AI and high-performance computing, making any prospective deal relevant for supply expectations across AI accelerators and data center chips. Source: TSMC Corporate Profile. TSMC has previously acknowledged cryptocurrency-related demand in its results, indicating that foundry capacity decisions can intersect with Bitcoin (BTC) hardware cycles, which traders in crypto-adjacent equities and mining supply chains may monitor. Source: TSMC Q1 2018 earnings call transcript.

According to @StockMKTNewz, Nvidia NVDA CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor TSMC is one of the greatest companies in the history of humanity, posted on X on Aug 22, 2025, source: @StockMKTNewz. Nvidia discloses it uses external foundries including TSMC for manufacturing, assembly, and testing of its GPUs, identifying TSMC as a key supplier, source: Nvidia Form 10-K for fiscal year ended Jan 28, 2024. TSMC stated it is expanding CoWoS advanced packaging capacity through 2024 and 2025 to meet surging AI accelerator demand, source: TSMC Q2 2024 earnings call prepared remarks. For crypto markets, Ethereum moved to proof-of-stake in 2022 eliminating GPU mining for ETH, while Bitcoin mining relies on ASICs rather than GPUs, so AI GPU supply changes tied to NVDA and TSMC have limited direct impact on BTC and ETH mining, source: Ethereum Foundation The Merge update and Bitcoin developer documentation. GPU availability remains relevant for smaller GPU-mined coins such as Ethereum Classic, source: Ethereum Classic documentation.