Jensen Huang couldn't get TSMC to return his calls. Then its founder called.

Jensen Huang traced Nvidia's 30-year TSMC partnership to a letter he wrote to founder Morris Chang. Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Before Nvidia became an AI giant, Jensen Huang struggled to get TSMC to return his calls. He found TSMC in the Yellow Pages, but repeated calls went unanswered until he wrote to its founder. A call from Morris Chang led to a Taiwan visit and a chipmaking partnership that has lasted 30 years. Before Nvidia became an AI powerhouse, Jensen Huang was a startup founder struggling to get a Taiwanese chipmaker to return his calls. The Nvidia CEO recalled how he first connected with Morris Chang, the founder of Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC, in a video with podcaster Lex Fridman published on Wednesday. It was the late 1990s, and Nvidia was looking for a manufacturer to produce its graphics chips.