TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker, announced plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S., a decision that Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te says was driven by customer demand rather than political pressure from the Trump administration. The investment will fund three additional chip manufacturing plants and two packaging facilities in Arizona. Concerns arose that Taiwan might not benefit significantly from relocating some of its advanced manufacturing processes to the U.S. However, President Lai emphasized that the move aligns with TSMC’s future development goals and denied any U.S. government influence during the decision-making process. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei noted that customer demand has been growing steadily, and the current expansion plans in the U.S. are still insufficient to meet this demand. He also assured that TSMC’s operations in Taiwan, including its 10,000 employees working on 1.0 nanometer chips, would remain unaffected. Taiwan, a self-ruled island, faces geopolitical tensions as Beijing considers it a renegade province. While the U.S. does not officially recognize Taiwan as a country, it remains Taiwan’s strongest ally and arms provider. Under the Trump administration, U.S. support for Taiwan has shown signs of fragility, with calls for Taiwan to increase its defense spending to about 10% of its GDP to deter potential conflict with China. — news from The Associated Press
