NVIDIA Establishes 'US Headquarters-Level' Overseas Branch Headquarters in Taiwan

Report by Taiwan Gongshang Daily

Artificial intelligence (AI) chip leader Nvidia is reportedly planning to establish an overseas branch headquarters in Taiwan comparable to its Silicon Valley headquarters, according to local media reports.

Taiwan Commercial Times reported on the 23rd that "Jensen Huang, Nvidia's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), is focusing on making Taipei City, Taiwan, the base for the overseas branch headquarters to fulfill his promise of creating a headquarters for Nvidia's Taiwan employees."

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Earlier, CEO Jensen Huang visited his hometown Taiwan in June to attend Computex, Asia's largest information technology (IT) exhibition, and announced, "Within the next five years, we will establish a large-scale research and development (R&D) and design center in Taiwan, employing at least 1,000 engineers," adding, "We are currently scouting for a large site to build the center."

The Commercial Times reported that CEO Jensen Huang had communicated with relevant Taiwanese authorities at the time, expressing the need for more than 3 hectares (1 hectare equals 10,000 square meters) of land. Nvidia has already leased about 60% (floors 3 to 17) of the Ruentex Yucheng Office Building in Nangang District, southeastern Taipei, as the base for its Taiwan branch. It also plans to relocate its first R&D center, currently located in the Neihu Science Park, to the Nangang building by leasing it for 10 years.

In this way, Nvidia intends not only to lease buildings but also to establish an overseas branch headquarters in Nangang, Taipei. However, according to the media, it is currently difficult to find a large land area of more than 3 hectares in Taipei City, except for some re-zoning planned areas that Nvidia desires. While Taipei City is making efforts to create such land, if it proves difficult, nearby areas such as New Taipei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, which are close to the current Taiwan branch and connected by high-speed rail, could also become candidates for Nvidia's overseas headquarters, the media added.

Reuters Yonhap News

A Taiwanese official who has visited Nvidia's U.S. headquarters said, "Nvidia intends to establish an overseas branch headquarters in Taiwan," and evaluated, "They are searching for land, and the occupied area will be considerably large, comparable to the U.S. Silicon Valley headquarters."

CEO Huang, who moved from Taiwan to the U.S. at the age of nine, led the AI rally in the U.S. stock market this year and was selected as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People of the Year." Nvidia, led by Huang, currently dominates over 90% of the AI training and inference chip market. Its stock price has risen about 172% this year. The title of "CEO of the Year" chosen by Time went to Lisa Su, AMD CEO, who is also a Taiwanese-American and a fifth cousin of Huang.