As envisioned, 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.
“Without the semiconductors, there is no economy powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing,” Trump said from the Roosevelt Room.
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 Corp. and Apple Inc. 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.
See also: TSMC starts building third Arizona chip plant to ramp up US expansion
Additional spending by TSMC in the US will need approval from Taiwan’s government. On Tuesday, Taiwan’s government downplayed concerns the expanded investment plans may Americanize the chip-maker. “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. “These have nothing to do with tariffs. TSMC’s global expansion is a crucial development.”
The company’s shares fell 1.5%, dragged down by a broader rout in technology stocks on concerns over looming US tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China.
TSMC’s investment plans support Trump’s goal of making the US dominant in AI, and they marked the latest major technology investment since his return to power. Companies including Apple, OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. have pledged more than US$1 trillion in spending, though the scope of those commitments remains unclear. Some investments may include previously planned spending.
See also: Intel CEO Tan's bid to revive company overshadowed by bleak outlook
“Trump again stressed tariffs’ role in bringing more manufacturing to the US, but we believe it is political pressure, rather than tariffs” that spurred TSMC’s decision, Bernstein analysts including Mark Li wrote. This was the “least bad” outcome for TSMC, which could face pressure to help a struggling Intel Corp., he added. “TSMC can meet Trump’s goals without having an ‘inorganic’ arrangement with Intel.”
While some question whether TSMC will deliver on the US$100 billion, Handel Jones, International Business Strategies’ chip consultant, estimated TSMC will be spending US$300 billion or more in Taiwan, over roughly the same period, to meet demand for the most advanced chips.
Monday’s announcement comes as Trump weighs tariffs against a wide range of industries — including semiconductors, lumber, autos and pharmaceuticals — to address what he sees as global trade imbalances that hurt the US. Levies on chips would hit hard in Taiwan, where a vast majority of the world’s most advanced wafers, especially those used in artificial intelligence, are made.
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.
The president has expressed a preference for using tariffs to spur US chipmaking instead of government subsidies, the approach favored under former President Joe Biden, who pushed for passage of the Chips and Science Act to revive the domestic industry. That legislation, signed in 2022, led to TSMC winning US$6.6 billion in grants to support three plants in Phoenix.
Future implementation of Chips Act programs, however, remains clouded by the prospect of significant staffing reductions as Trump moves to slash the federal workforce. The US government office responsible for the marquee US$52 billion subsidy program will lose about two-fifths of its staff, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Trump administration officials have also approached TSMC about possibly taking a controlling stake in Intel Corp.’s factories, Bloomberg News reported previously. Those talks remain in the early stages but the move is aimed at addressing concerns about Intel’s deteriorating financial state, which has forced it to eliminate jobs and curb global expansion plans.
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. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Chief Executive Officer 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.
