The epicenter of the AI supercycle converged on Taipei this Thursday as President Lai Ching-te welcomed Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra to the Presidential Office, just hours after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang touched down on the island.
While President Lai moved to cement Taiwan's role in the global supply chain by framing memory as a strategic pillar of Taiwan–US cooperation, Huang added a personal dimension to the high-stakes diplomacy, hailing his 'terrific' partner 'Sanjay' and reinforcing the absolute centrality of Micron's high-bandwidth memory to NVIDIA's next-generation AI architecture.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on January 29, 2026, welcomed a senior delegation from Micron Technology to the Presidential Office, using the visit to underscore Taiwan's role in the global AI supply chain and to frame memory as a strategic pillar of Taiwan–US technological cooperation.
Addressing Micron president and chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra and executive vice president of global operations Manish Bhatia, Lai pointed to Micron's three decades of operations in Taiwan as evidence of a deep-rooted commitment. Micron's cumulative investment in the island has exceeded NT$1.2 trillion (US$35 billion), he said, supporting more than 10,000 engineering jobs.
Credit: Presidential Office
Lai noted that in the AI era, chips and memory are indispensable. While Micron assists Taiwan in expanding advanced manufacturing capabilities for HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), Taiwan would reciprocate by helping Micron gain a competitive advantage. "Taiwan and the US will join forces to expand their global edge in AI chips," he said, positioning the partnership as building "more resilient and competitive supply chains."
Deepening Taiwan–US economic integration
The visit comes amid intensifying Taiwan–US economic ties. Lai cited ongoing trade negotiations and a forthcoming reciprocal trade agreement, noting two-way investment flows in memory, IC design, cloud operations, and supply chains.
Credit: Presidential Office
Strategic partnership with local foundries
Lai highlighted a recent letter of intent between Micron and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) as highly significant. Under the arrangement announced on January 17, 2026, Micron agreed to prepay for manufacturing services to reserve PSMC's HBM back-end capacity, formally bringing PSMC into Micron's HBM supply chain. Micron will also assist PSMC in upgrading specialty DRAM process technologies at its Hsinchu P3 fab.
Lai assured the delegation, which also included Micron Taiwan chairman Donghui Lu, that government support would remain steadfast, calling for continued collaboration to strengthen memory technologies underpinning AI infrastructure.
Credit: Presidential Office
Jensen Huang reinforces memory's AI centrality
During his high-profile arrival in Taiwan, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang underscored the pivotal role of Micron Technology, noting that the company's leadership was slated to arrive on the island that same day. Huang spoke warmly of Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, familiarly referring to him as "Sanjay" and describing him to reporters as "terrific." He emphasized the deep synergy between the two firms, lauding Micron as an "excellent, excellent partner" in the global semiconductor ecosystem.
Expanding on the strategic necessity of this alliance, Huang explained that memory chips have evolved into a cornerstone of artificial intelligence. He noted that for AI to be truly effective, it requires "context awareness" to interpret specific scenarios—a process that demands both "long-term memory" and "short-term working memory" reminiscent of human cognition. Consequently, Huang observed that the volume of memory required for AI applications is "increasing quite substantially."
Huang also highlighted NVIDIA's unique leverage within the global supply chain. He remarked that NVIDIA is "fortunate" to be the only company worldwide collaborating with every major High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) provider.
He expressed personal gratitude to the leaders driving these firms forward, specifically citing "Sanjay at Micron" (Sanjay Mehrotra) alongside "Tony at SK" (SK Group Chairman Tony Chey) and "J at Samsung" (Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee) as the key collaborators shaping the future of the industry.
Credit: Presidential Office
Article edited by Jerry Chen
