Nvidia may be playing the blame game with TSMC for Blackwell chip failures but that doesn't necessarily mean it will return to Samsung

Even though Nvidia's Blackwell processors are now starting to appear in server racks, such as Microsoft Azure servers, they're still a bit later than originally planned. They should have arrived later, but we're hearing that the chips were rushed onto the market.

The Information (via Business Korea), a tech site, reports that Nvidia engineers found that during testing of the Blackwell chip in the weeks following Huang's announcement they discovered that the chips failed when exposed to high-voltage environments common in data centres. According to "two people who have direct knowledge of the issue", this is what two people with direct experience of the problem claim.

Both sides seem to be blaming one another for this. TSMC claims that Nvidia rushed the production, while Nvidia says the defects are caused by TSMC packaging technology. Whatever the cause, tensions have been building in the three-decade relationship between the two companies.

This doesn't mean that the partnership has been uninterrupted for 30 years. The relationship was punctuated most notably by a break for Nvidia's 30-series "Ampere" GPUs that Samsung produced. The Information reports that Nvidia may switch to Samsung from TSMC once more and hope to receive a discount of 20-30% compared to TSMC.

I'm hoping for a tax break of 20-30%. What? Wishes aren't actually fishes?

I don't believe it. TSMC is Nvidia's only real competition right now. It has more advanced nodes, and it doesn't need to reserve any of the fabrication for its own products because it only produces for third parties.

Nvidia is unlikely to forget that the last time Nvidia partnered with Samsung things didn't go so well with skyrocketing GPU prices and shortages. Unfortunately, the world has been a mess and this is what happened. Samsung can't do anything about it now.

Samsung hasn't been doing well lately. Its stock prices have fallen and foreign investors are selling shares. It's not all bad news, as the chip giant is still a giant. It's also been looking at the Middle East to find new fabs, and still plans to invest in 1.4 nm.

TSMC is still a better option, even if the relationship is strained at the moment due to chip defects. Hell, TSMC just reported a 39% sales increase compared to the Q3 of last year. The market is booming for TSMC right now.

If all The Information's reports are true, it seems more likely that Nvidia is trying to get a better deal.

We can only hope that these supposed defects do not make it into the RTX-50-series batches, which should be launched early next year.