Spotlights

Spotlights · companies, systems and geopolitics · supplier rings, US status, China exposure

Every one of the 10 chips in the SemiconductorX supplier rings has a South Korean link, and nine of 10 run through Taiwan. 49 of their 80 supplier links sit in those two places and one has US volume today, which is why each spotlight below ends at a foundry, a memory maker or a scanner.

Where the 10 chips in the SemiconductorX supplier rings are made, by country of each supplier link. All 10 have at least one South Korean link, mostly memory; nine of 10 have Taiwanese links, all but Tesla AI5. 49 of 80 links are in Taiwan or South Korea. US links: 1 with US volume today and 4 planned. SUPPLIER LINKS BY COUNTRY, 10 RING CHIPS TAIWAN KOREA JAPAN USA CHINA NVIDIA B300 6 2 3 1 NVIDIA Rubin 5 3 3 1 AMD MI455X 7 1 1 Google Ironwood 2 2 3 AWS Trainium3 4 1 2 Microsoft Maia 200 2 1 1 Huawei Ascend 910C 1 2 4 Tesla AI5 3 2 SK hynix HBM4 1 3 1 Apple A19 Pro 2 1 LINKS, OF 80 30 19 13 5 4 CIRCLE SIZE AND NUMBER: LINKS IN THAT COUNTRY. US CIRCLES SHOW US STATUS (SOLID TINT: SOME US VOLUME; DASHED: PLANNED). LINKS IN TWO COUNTRIES COUNT IN BOTH; 12 UNDISCLOSED.
Spotlights
16
Ring chips
10
Links in Taiwan or Korea
49 of 80
Links with US volume
1 of 80
Planned US links
4
Hub
Spotlights

Where they are made

All 10 Ring Chips Run Through South Korea, and Nine Through Taiwan

49 of 80 supplier links sit in the two places; one has US volume today.

  • Made in US
  • Some US volume
  • US planned
  • Made abroad
  • Not disclosed
The 10 chips in the SemiconductorX supplier rings
ChipLogicMemoryLinksUS status
NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra B300TSMC; TSMC ArizonaMicron; SK hynix; Samsung11Some US volume
NVIDIA RubinTSMCMicron; SK hynix; Samsung12US planned
AMD Instinct MI455XTSMCSamsung; Not disclosed11Made abroad
Google TPU IronwoodTSMCSK hynix; Samsung8Made abroad
AWS Trainium3TSMCMicron; SK hynix8Made abroad
Microsoft Maia 200TSMCSK hynix6Made abroad
Huawei Ascend 910CSMIC; TSMCCXMT; SK hynix; Samsung7Made abroad
Tesla AI5Samsung Foundry; TSMCSK hynix; Samsung7US planned
SK hynix HBM4 12-highNot applicableSK hynix5US planned
Apple A19 ProTSMCSamsung; Not disclosed5Made abroad

Every one of the 10 chips has at least one South Korean link, almost always memory from SK hynix or Samsung, and nine of 10 run through Taiwan, mostly through TSMC wafers and packaging. 49 of the 80 supplier links are in one of those two places. Only one link has US volume today, the Blackwell Ultra logic die at TSMC Arizona; the planned US links are Tesla AI5 at Samsung Taylor and TSMC Arizona, KYEC test for Rubin and SK hynix HBM packaging in West Lafayette, Indiana. The table's US status column shows each chip's best link. The full rings are on the Chip Supplier Rings hub.

Companies

Eight Companies, Seen Through Their Suppliers

Company spotlights
SpotlightSupply chain in one line
NVIDIAGPUs made at TSMC on 4NP and N3P, packaged in CoWoS-L, with HBM from SK hynix, Samsung and Micron
AMDInstinct GPUs and EPYC CPUs at TSMC; the MI455X stacks N2 compute dies on N3P base dies
TSMCMakes the logic for most leading AI chips; fabs in Taiwan, Arizona, Japan and Germany
Intel FoundryIntel 18A in Arizona and Oregon, with some Intel product tiles made at TSMC
Samsung SemiconductorDRAM, HBM and foundry; its Taylor, Texas fab is to make Tesla's AI5
ASMLSole EUV scanner maker; light sources from San Diego, optics from Zeiss in Germany
WolfspeedSilicon carbide wafers and devices from North Carolina and New York, against falling substrate prices
Huawei and HiSiliconAscend and Kirin chips on SMIC, with HBM from a stockpile and CXMT

Systems

Seven Systems, From the Car to the Constellation

System spotlights
SpotlightSupply chain in one line
Tesla TerafabTesla's plan for its own chip fab, and the tools, materials and people it would need
Tesla: A Rolling Data CenterThe AI5 inference chip, split between Samsung Taylor and TSMC Arizona, and the car as a compute node
Humanoids and RoboticsCompute, motor drives, sensors and battery chips in humanoid robots
AI Data CenterThe rack-scale accelerator system and the chips inside it
Satellites and SpaceChips in SpaceX's Starlink satellites and user terminals
Fabs as Chip ConsumersThe chips inside fab tools and facility systems
SiC: Nine Markets, One WaferOne silicon carbide substrate supply shared by vehicles, chargers, solar, grid and industry

Geopolitics

One Split Running Through All of Them

Geopolitics spotlight
SpotlightSupply chain in one line
China BifurcationHow export controls split the chain into two, layer by layer, and where the two still cross

China Bifurcation and Huawei and HiSilicon cover the same split from two sides: one by layer across all of China, the other through one company's chips.

How spotlights work

Each Spotlight Ends at the Dependency It Cannot Route Around

A spotlight follows one company or system through the supply chain: where its chips, tools or wafers are made, which suppliers it depends on, how exposed it is to China, and the one dependency it cannot route around. Financial figures appear only where they show that dependency. Where a chip is in the supplier rings dataset, the spotlight links its ring, a row-by-row record of each supplier, plant, evidence grade and source.

Every site and supplier link carries one of five US production statuses:

  • Made in US
  • Some US volume
  • US planned
  • Made abroad
  • Not disclosed

The demand side, by end market, is on the Sectors Hub; the device side is on Chip Types.

Record

Page Record

Covers
Index of company, system and geopolitics spotlights; country of each supplier link for the 10 ring chips; US production status; how spotlights are built. Folded in: Semiconductor Spotlights Index
Sources
SemiconductorX chip supplier dataset (sx_chips and sx_chip_rings, 10 chips and 80 supplier links, verified October 2026); company and system spotlight pages linked above
Last verified
October 2026