wASHINGTON – The chip giant Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer is planning to invest $100 billion in the United States, President Donald Trump said Monday in addition to the $65 billion investment the company previously announced.
TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, produces chips for companies such as Apple, Intel and Nvidia. The company had already begun construction of three factories in Arizona after the Biden administration provided subsidies. The first factory in Arizona has begun mass production of 4 nanometer chips.
Trump, who appeared at the White House with TSMC CEO CC Wei, called it “a tremendous move” and “an economic security issue.”
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“Semiconductors are the backbone of the economy of the 21st century, and really, without semiconductors, there is no economy,” the president said. “We need to be able to move everything from AI to cars to advanced manufacturing and build the chips and semiconductors we need in an American factory with American skills and the American workforce.”
Wei said he will be investing in three more chip manufacturing plants along with two packaging facilities in Arizona.
The $165 billion investment “will generate thousands of well-paid jobs,” Wei said.
In 2022, former President Joe Biden signed Chips Science Law, a $280 billion law, to reinvigorate chip manufacturing in the United States, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, chip factories, especially those that manufacture most processors, will be shut down. It had ripple effects that led to wider issues, including shutting down assembly lines at automotive factories and promoting inflation.
Trump criticizes the law and takes a different approach, threatening to return chip production to the US, threatening to impose high tariffs on imported chips instead.
Trump also said companies like TSMC don’t need federal tax incentives.
The Commerce Department’s sought-after moves not allowed to speak publicly, 40 people who worked on implementing the CHIPS Act were fired Monday as part of a drastic move by the Trump administration to cut the size of the federal workforce.
When asked whether new investments could minimize the impact on the US if China quarantines or seizes Taiwan, Trump said he could not say, “It would clearly be a catastrophic event.”
Taiwan is an island that was remote from mainland China in 1949 after the civil war. Beijing has advocated sovereignty over the island, increasing military and diplomatic pressure on its leaders.
“At least, this very important business will give us a position that there is a huge part of the US,” Trump said of chip manufacturing.
He had not said whether the investment would provide security to the autonomous island that Beijing considers to be part of China’s territory.
Read more: Trump’s strategic ambiguity brings uncertainty in Taiwan
The Office of Economic and Cultural Representatives in Taipei, a virtual embassy for the US island, said that investments by US Taiwanese companies exceed 40% of the island’s foreign investment and that the Taiwanese government is “pleasant” to see Taiwanese companies and expand its investment in the US and cooperate deeply with the supply chain on the two sides.
“It also brings the economic and trade relationship closer,” the office said.
Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific program at the US German Marshall Fund, said Taipei hopes that the increased investment pledge will help keep US-Tewan ties strong. “Taiwan is clearly stepping up in a way that supports and advances President Trump’s priorities,” she said. “The US will benefit greatly from TSMC’s investment.”
Trump has yet to show his stance on US support for Taiwan’s security since he took office, and said Taiwan should pay the US for its military defense.
Trump has hosted multiple business leaders at the White House since taking office in January to promote a series of investments aimed at showing his leadership as a boon to the US economy. He also points out that tariff threats develop investment.
“It’s an incentive we created, or a negative incentive,” Trump said.
In January he appeared at the White House with the heads of Openai, Oracle and Softbank. They have announced plans for a new partnership that will invest up to $500 billion in infrastructure related to artificial intelligence. He also announced a $20 billion investment by Damac Properties in the United Arab Emirates in January, building an AI-related data center.
After Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House last week, the company announced plans to invest more than $500 billion in the US over the next four years, including plans for a new server factory in Texas. Trump said after the meeting that the cook had promised him that Apple’s manufacturing would move from Mexico to the US.
“We don’t have time to make all of these announcements,” Trump joked Monday.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the planned announcement on Monday.
– Josh Bork and Chris Megarian from related presses contributed to this report. Price reported from New York.
