Today, Greenpeace East Asia activists confronted US semiconductor giant NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in Taipei face-to-face, demanding that the AI chip monolith and its billionaire founder take responsibility for the soaring energy demands and carbon emissions across its supply chain, especially in the East Asian manufacturing hub of Taiwan, where most of its hardware is produced.
Activists intercepted Huang outside the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Taipei's Songshan District ahead of his scheduled dinner with local technology executives and suppliers. They presented him with a 3D-printed, five-layer model cake that read: "AI Needs Renewable Energy"-a stunt turning Huang's own recent industry remarks, where he called energy the foundational layer of AI development [1], into a direct demand for climate action.
Confronted with the direct question, "Can you invest in renewable energy together with your suppliers in Taiwan?" Huang replied positively and signed the model cake. Greenpeace East Asia aims to hold him accountable for his words.
Lena Chang, Climate and Energy Campaigner in Greenpeace East Asia's Taipei office, said:
"With half of NVIDIA's top 20 hardware suppliers operating in Taiwan, the island forms the bedrock of the company's global supply chain. Yet, because the local grid relies heavily on fossil fuels, Taiwanese communities carry the unfair burden of severe grid strain and carbon pollution as a result of the AI frenzy."
The action builds on a global wave of resistance against tech billionaires prioritizing rapid expansion over environmental limits. It follows an earlier protest by Greenpeace USA at NVIDIA's GTC conference in San Jose in March, which targeted the company's failure to address its growing carbon footprint with renewable energy.
Driven by soaring electricity consumption, NVIDIA's supply chain emissions more than doubled between 2023 and 2025, dumping a massive environmental burden onto Taiwan [2], which manufactures over 90% of advanced chips globally [3]. NVIDIA's primary manufacturer, TSMC, alone accounts for nearly 10% of Taiwan's total electricity [4], forcing a dangerous expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure that threatens local public health and the energy transition [5]. Meanwhile, NVIDIA has lagged behind other global AI giants in decarbonization [6] and has yet to deploy its massive profits toward direct renewable energy investments in its East Asian manufacturing hubs [7].
Avex Li, Greenpeace East Asia Supply Chain Project Lead, said:
"Nvidia's record-breaking earnings show once again that the AI frenzy is making extraordinary profits for a handful of powerful companies and billionaires. They cannot pretend they lack the power or resources to change course. It is time for them to take responsibility for building an AI future powered by renewable energy, not fossil fuels. "
Greenpeace East Asia is demanding that NVIDIA act to:
- Expand its 100% renewable energy target from its own corporate operations to cover its entire manufacturing supply chain by 2030.
- Direct a substantial portion of NVIDIA's capital profits into supplier-led renewable energy infrastructure across East Asian manufacturing hubs
