It's a staggering figure, but TSMC has just announced a massive investment in Uncle Sam's country.
In 2020, in a bid to diversify its production facilities, then almost all located in Taiwan, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (or TSMC) announced an already huge $12 billion investment in the United States. Construction of the plant is now complete, and the Arizona-based infrastructure is producing its first chips. TSMC, however, has not waited to continue opening up, with another $65 billion to expand its presence in the United States, in addition to the factories it has set up in Japan. Impressive figures, but nothing like what has just been announced.
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, center, and Donald Trump, right © The White House
Indeed, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei made his way to the U.S. to announce, alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, an unprecedented effort, which Trump commented: " We need to be able to make the chips and semiconductors we need right here, in U.S. factories, with U.S. skills and U.S. workforces, and that's exactly what we're doing ".
It's hard to say whether the investment was going to go ahead anyway, or whether Donald Trump's latest decisions are to blame. In any case, Donald Trump is convinced of its impact: " If the chips are made in Taiwan and sent here, they'll have to pay tariffs of 25%, 30%, 50% or whatever the number is. The tariffs will only go up. If you do it here, there are no tariffs . It's true that the introduction of tariffs of 25% with Canada and Mexico, and 10% with China, posed a certain risk for TSMC, which finds itself increasingly able to circumvent these customs barriers by producing directly in its first market.
