U.S. President Donald Trump will announce Taiwan’s TSMC’s $100 billion investment plan to build semiconductor production facilities in the U.S. over the next four years.
TSMC’s advanced semiconductor facilities in the U.S. are expected to significantly help the U.S. reclaim the semiconductor dominance it lost to Asia.
In 2020, TSMC announced its intention to invest $12 billion in building semiconductor facilities in Arizona.
Since then, the plans for the Arizona semiconductor plant have expanded significantly.
TSMC has decided to build two more factories at the same location, raising the total investment to $65 billion. The first semiconductor plant began production last year.
TSMC’s large-scale investment plan in the U.S. comes amid global competition for semiconductor supremacy.
While TSMC has primarily constructed cutting-edge semiconductor production facilities in Taiwan, the Biden administration’s substantial support through the CHIPS Act and simultaneous pressures have prompted TSMC to increase its investments in the U.S.
Under the CHIPS Act, TSMC secured $6.6 billion in funding and has already started receiving this support. However, the outlook became uncertain during the Trump administration.
Trump has expressed skepticism about the support provided under the CHIPS Act.
TSMC handles production for fabless semiconductor companies like NVIDI. These companies dominate the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor market but only design and outsource manufacturing.
As a result, TSMC’s semiconductor plants have become crucial to the growth of AI.
The importance of packaging facilities, which construct semiconductor packages, is particularly increasing.
AI semiconductors, which gather multiple semiconductor components while reducing size, enhancing energy efficiency, and enabling faster data transmission, are pivotal to AI’s success.
The U.S. administration regards semiconductor facilities as a matter of national security, as semiconductors serve as a critical foundation for economic, technological, and military advancement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruption of the Asian semiconductor supply chain led to a global shortage, prompting the U.S. and Europe to scramble to establish their own supply chains.
Trump has criticized the CHIPS Act while arguing that more semiconductor facilities need to be established in the U.S. He has proposed tariffs as an alternative.
He believes that imposing hefty tariffs on all semiconductors imported into the U.S. will ultimately force semiconductor companies to build factories there.
Last month, Trump revealed he is considering imposing 25% or more tariffs on semiconductors.
He said, “We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in American factories with American skill and American labor, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Trump noted that while some semiconductors are made in Korea, almost all are produced in Taiwan. He emphasized that these semiconductors must be made in the U.S., and these companies must come to the country.
