Nathaniel Whittemore

Now, TSMC has already committed to building multiple new fabs in the U.S.

as well as more capacity in Taiwan, but construction takes time.

Wei discussed a series of roadblocks that have caused the U.S.

plants to fall behind schedule, including environmental permitting and a shortage of construction workers.

TSMC has expanded plans for six new fabs in Arizona, adding another four facilities to their construction plan.

Still, Wei commented that construction and operational progress in Arizona is proceeding better than originally expected.

While Wei didn't forecast how long he expects the overall shortage to last, he did comment, it will be a long time before we can meet customer demand.

When a shareholder asked Wei if he plans to raise prices given the shortage, he said he would like to do that but wants to avoid the abrupt price hikes that have been seen in memory chips.

TSMC is famously a relationship-based company, with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commenting that he's never signed a contract despite becoming TSMC's largest customer.

Still, referencing the memory chip supplier's way said, I envy their 80% gross margins, but I would never do that.

One interesting little one, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is planning to launch a new AI lab.

Bloomberg said the lab would be focused on user interaction and design, although it's not entirely clear what that means.

It doesn't sound like the pitch for a new foundation model lab, so there's speculation it will be some kind of agent lab.

Now, Chesky, despite a very prominent role in Silicon Valley, has so far been mostly in the periphery in the AI boom.

He was considered for a role on the OpenAI board and was a key power broker in negotiating Sam Altman's return as CEO after his brief ouster back in 2023.

Sources said that Chesky wouldn't be going founder mode for this venture.

Instead, he plans to remain as CEO of Airbnb and hire a new leader to helm the lab.

Bloomberg said that the unnamed startup is in the early stages of fundraising.

And honestly, for most people, the jokes write themselves.

Taylor writes, soon you can rent your Airbnb as a data center.