- AI chipmaker Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company will expand partnerships in Vietnam.
- Huang was on a trip to Southeast Asia, where Nvidia inked a partnership in Malaysia.
- Nvidia’s plans signal a shift in high-tech supply chain development amid US-China tensions.
Chipmaker Nvidia is looking to Southeast Asia for expansion plans, signaling a shift in global advanced tech supply chains.
In his trip to Vietnam, Nvidia CEO and president Jensen Huang reportedly declared the Southeast Asian country the company’s second home.
“This trip will definitely open up future trips. I will return to Vietnam, to Nvidia’s second homeland,” Huang said on Monday, as reported by VietNamNet, a state-affiliated media outlet.
Nvidia has already invested $250 million in Vietnam and is planning to expand partnerships with the country’s top tech companies.
Huang was in Vietnam as part of his visit to Southeast Asia, which also included stops in Malaysia and Singapore.
He told reporters at a media roundtable in Malaysia last week that he has “great confidence that Southeast Asia is going to be a very important technology hub.”
“It’s already quite excellent at packaging and assembly and battery manufacturing. It’s already very good at many aspects of the technology supply chain,” he added.
Nvidia is partnering with Malaysia’s YTL Power International to develop AI infrastructure, the utility company announced Friday.
Nvidia was also discussing potential AI investment in Singapore.
Nvidia’s high-profile trip to Southeast Asia came amid heightened tensions between the US and China related to issues including rivalry over semiconductor chips.
To de-risk, many global companies are shifting parts of their supply chain from China — the world’s factory floor for the past four decades — to other locations. Southeast Asia is set to benefit from this trend.
Nvidia is having a blowout year after OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot propelled AI technology into the mainstream.
The Santa Clara-based chipmaker beat expectations in the third quarter, as revenue soared 206% to $18.1 billion. The company’s stock has tripled this year, boosting its market value beyond $1 trillion.
Company cofounder Huang, who owns a 3.5% stake in the company, has also seen his fortune triple to $42.2 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Nvidia’s share price closed 1.9% lower at $466.27 apiece on Monday.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
