President Donald Trump believes that executives of the Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC) are trustworthy when it comes to following through on their investment commitments. Trump announced the largest foreign investment in US history last month when he and TSMC CEO Dr. C. C. Wei revealed a $100 billion chip manufacturing investment package through which TSMC would build more factories in the US. The package was part of Trump’s bid to expand America’s manufacturing base, and multiple reports from the Taiwanese press have indicated that TSMC has yet to submit its details to the Taiwanese government for approval.
Trump Asserts TSMC Has No Choice But To Invest In The US Since It’ll Have To Pay Tariffs Otherwise
Trump’s announcement at the White House in March was accompanied by praise for TSMC, which he called the greatest company on the planet. TSMC’s advanced manufacturing technologies and its ability to ship large volumes of advanced chips have ensured that it is the preferred contract manufacturer choice for all of the world’s leading technology companies.
Even though TSMC announced the $100 billion package in March, multiple Taiwanese officials have since stated that they have yet to receive any official request for approval for the package. Any significant investments have to receive the Taiwanese government’s clearance for national security, foreign policy and other implications.
However, considering that TSMC has already built its Arizona fab, with the plant set to complete additional manufacturing lines in the future under a previous $65 billion investment, the firm has plenty of time to submit the details of its new investment package to the Taiwanese government.
While TSMC has yet to submit details of its investment package to the government, Trump is confident that the firm will follow through on its word. In comments made in an interview with Time Magazine, he remained confident that his tariff strategy would ensure that American and foreign firms with manufacturing operations abroad would decide to shift their facilities to America.
Trump cited NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang as an example of the success of his strategy. NVIDIA announced earlier this month that it would invest $500 billion in the US over the next four years to build artificial intelligence data center infrastructure. The President then proceeded to point out “Mr. Wei from Taiwan” as another example of his strategy’s success.
In response, when the interviewer asked him whether he was confident about the funds flowing into America, Trump replied: “I’ll tell you why I trust them.” He added: “First of all, I think they’re trustworthy people. But more importantly, they have no choice, because they won’t be able to pay the tariffs if they don’t do it.”
While he had praised TSMC during the announcement, later on, Trump revealed that he had threatened TSMC with a 100% tax had the firm not decided to expand its US manufacturing base. “All I did is say, ‘If you don’t build your plant here, you are going to pay a big tax. Twenty-five, maybe 50, maybe 75, maybe 100%,'” Trump had said at a political event earlier this month.
