Taiwan’s government downplayed concerns that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s plans to invest a further US$100 billion ($134.51 billion) in the US will effectively lead to the chip-making giant becoming Americanised.
“TSMC already has plants in the US and Japan, and it’s now building new a plant in Germany,” Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Jyh-Huei told reporters on Tuesday. “These have nothing to do with tariffs. TSMC’s global expansion is a crucial development.”
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei on Monday joined US President Donald Trump at the White House to reveal plans to expand its US presence.
The spending marks one of the largest outlays by a foreign firm in US manufacturing. The spending adds to US$65 billion in planned TSMC investments in the US and would eventually bring its American presence to a half-dozen plants for advanced wafer fabrication and a couple more for advanced packaging.
Trump said the move means “the most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America”.
That may fuel concerns that Taiwan’s own place in the chip supply chain will be endangered as it shifts production offshore. Asked if the supply chain could move to the US, Kuo said he doubted it.
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“The manufacturing in the US is primarily for the American clients, in Japan for Japanese clients, and in Taiwan for customers from various other countries,” Kuo said. “Judging from the scale of the investment and the suppliers it requires, it’s unlikely the entire supply chain will shift from Taiwan in the long run.”
TSMC is the world’s leader in production of advanced semiconductors used for artificial intelligence, and it serves as the main chip manufacturing partner for Nvidia and Apple. Following the announcement, Nvidia said it would rely on the new TSMC plants to anchor a resilient technology supply chain in the US.
“We’re going to produce many chips to support AI progress and to support the smartphones’ progress, and we thank President Trump again for his support,” Wei said, adding the moves will create thousands of high-tech manufacturing jobs.
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Additional spending by TSMC in the US will need approval from Taiwan’s government. Taiwanese officials have said they will prudently review outbound investments in advanced chip tech. On Tuesday, Taipei said it will examine a deal it called a major milestone.
Trump has repeatedly accused Taiwan of “stealing” the US semiconductor industry and threatened tariffs on foreign-produced chips, as top US officials have consistently affirmed their commitment to boosting domestic manufacturing. That’s particularly true for technologies like AI and semiconductors at the heart of US-China competition.
“By doing it here, he has no tariffs,” Trump said, when asked Monday about the role his tariff threats have played in influencing companies’ decisions to invest in the US.
During Trump’s first term, his administration lured TSMC to the US partly out of national security concerns.
When TSMC first announced its investments in an advanced plant in the US in 2020, Trump officials at the time said semiconductors produced by the Taiwanese chipmaker in Arizona would power everything from artificial intelligence to F-35 fighter jets.
The company’s first facility in Arizona is now up and running, and its early production yields there have surpassed those at similar factories back home.
AMD CEO Lisa Su on Monday hailed the Trump administration’s effort to encourage domestic manufacturing and said her company was already working with TSMC as a leading customer at that plant.
“We are looking forward to being able to say our highest-performance products coming are being produced in the U.S. starting later this year,” Su said in a statement.
