TSMC to invest an additional $100 billion in the United States

US President Trump announced on March 3 that TSMC (TSMC) will invest an additional $100 billion in the United States. The system for producing cutting-edge semiconductors in the United States will be strengthened. TSMC Chairman and CEO Wei Zhejia visited the White House and announced the news with Trump.

TSMC has been promoting plans to build three cutting-edge factories in Arizona, western United States. TSMC said that the total investment in existing factories has reached $65 billion. If an additional $100 billion is added, the total investment in the United States will increase to $165 billion.

TSMC will build three more semiconductor factories. It will also set up two facilities and research and development (R&D) bases for “cutting-edge packaging” processes. It is expected to create 40,000 jobs in construction-related fields and tens of thousands of jobs in high-level talents such as R&D in the next four years.

On the 3rd, Trump said that “Taiwan is monopolizing the cutting-edge semiconductor market,” and on this basis, he said that “this is not only an economic security issue, but also a national security issue,” emphasizing the importance of investing in the United States.

On the 3rd, TSMC’s Wei Zhejia said about domestic investment in the United States: “We will mass-produce semiconductors for artificial intelligence (AI).” TSMC has received foundry production orders for cutting-edge AI semiconductors for data centers from Nvidia and other companies in the United States, so it is possible to promote the transfer of production to the United States.

Trump has been expressing dissatisfaction with Taiwan, saying that it “took away the chip business of the United States.” He hinted that additional tariffs would be imposed on semiconductors, which, if implemented, could hit TSMC. On the 3rd, Trump said, “If it is produced in the United States, there will be no tariffs.”

The former Biden administration of the United States proposed to strengthen domestic semiconductor production and decided to provide subsidies to companies producing in the United States in accordance with the Chips and Science Act. A total of US$6.6 billion will be provided to TSMC. In terms of striving to achieve self-production of cutting-edge semiconductors, the Trump administration has not changed its policy.

Since the Trump administration came to power, companies have successively expressed their intention to invest in the United States. SoftBank Group (SBG) said in January this year that it would launch a joint investment project for AI development with OpenAI and Oracle of the United States. The initial investment is US$100 billion, and US$500 billion will be invested in the next four years.

Apple also announced in February this year that it will invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years. The servers used to develop generative AI for the iPhone will be produced in a new factory in Texas. Apple also said it will add 20,000 employees in the United States to focus on research and development.