Taiwanese President, TSMC Defends Additional $100 Billion in US Investment Amidst ‘Westernization’ Fears
Leading chip manufacturer TSMC has said its plan to make additional investment in the US will not affect local investments. During a briefing held by TSMC, CEO CC Wei reassured the public of the company’s commitment to boost investments in Taiwan where it will produce and retain its highly advanced technology.
Yahoo Finance reported that the company plans to make a $100 billion TSMC US investment in addition to the $65 billion the company initially announced.
High Demand
In a joint media briefing with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on March 6, Wei told reporters that the company’s decision to increase US investments is due to rising demand.
“We are increasing investments in the US as demand from US customers is very large. Our current US capacity is fully booked, it is also fully booked for next year, and we’ve already got orders for 2027,” Wei said.
The TSMC executive added that as the go-to chip manufacturer for Nvidia and Apple, the company may still be unable to satisfy chip demand in the US even after making additional investments. TSMC has not changed the plans it had of establishing 11 production lines in Taiwan this year.
President Lai and Wei held a joint press conference to allay fears that Taiwan’s largest chip manufacturer was shifting its priorities to the west. The TSMC press conference came a few days after TSMC announced an additional $100 billion investment in the establishment of production facilities in the US. TSMC’s expansion plans are well aligned to President Donald Trump’s agenda of increasing domestic chip production.
Addressing Research Speculations
Wei also attempted to address speculations that TSMC could be shifting its research unit to the US. The CEO said that his company has employed 10,000 engineers to develop next-gen technologies in Taiwan. The executive said that staff in the newly established research and development staff in the Arizona plant will focus on optimizing production lines that exist there.
TSMC’s US spending is one of the biggest outlays by a foreign company in US chip production. The new investment is expected to bring its presence in the US to about half a dozen factories. The plants will support advanced wafer production with several of them facilitating advanced packaging. The Taiwanese government will have to approve any additional US investment.
The cabinet will be reviewing the new investment in line with its laws. On March 4, Taiwan’s Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-Huei downplayed allegations that additional investments to the US could westernize the TSMC.
“TSMC already has plants in the US and Japan, and it’s now building a new plant in Germany. These have nothing to do with tariffs. TSMC’s global expansion is a crucial development,” Kuo said.
Trump Tariffs
The new US investment pledge by TSMC comes at a time when US President Donald Trump is introducing tariffs against industries like lumber, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and autos to fix trade imbalances that disadvantage the US. Introduction of chip levies would have a direct impact on Taiwan where the majority of highly advanced wafers that are used in AI are manufactured.
President has accused Taiwan of taking the US chip production industry. The Republican president has threatened to levy duties on chips manufactured outside the US. Speaking to the Congress on March 4, Trump threatened to cancel the $52 billion chips subsidy.
On March 6, Taiwan’s President said the US had not pressured Taiwan on TSMC expansion. After TSMC announced the new US investment, Nvidia said it will be relying on the new plants to sustain its resilient tech supply chain.
