In its ongoing trade war with China, the US just scored a major win. President Donald Trump has announced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will make an investment of $100 billion in the US. Trump also called them the “most powerful company in the world.”
Expanding its US presence
TSMC’s $100 billion investment in the US is just one of several investments the company has made over the years. TSMC has fabs located in its home turf of Taiwan. It also operates in China and Germany. In 2020, the company made its first expansion to the US, opening up shop in Arizona. The company had committed $65 billion to building three factories in Arizona. The latest $100 billion investment will go toward two additional chip manufacturing facilities located in Phoenix. This brings the total investment to $165 billion.
The company’s investment follows that of its long-time partner and customer, Apple, which announced its own $500 billion investment in the US economy. According to Dr. C.C. Wei, TSMC Chairman and CEO, “Back in 2020, thanks to President Trump’s vision and support, we embarked on our journey of establishing advanced chip manufacturing in the United States. This vision is now a reality. AI is reshaping our daily lives and semiconductor technology is the foundation for new capabilities and applications. With the success of our first fab in Arizona, along with needed government support and strong customer partnerships, we intend to expand our U.S. semiconductor manufacturing investment by an additional $100 billion, bringing our total planned investment to $165 billion.”
TSMC’s ever-growing presence
TSMC is a major player in the semiconductor industry. In fact, it would be accurate to call the company the largest semiconductor company in the word. TSMC has many notable customers under its belt. This includes Apple. The Cupertino company heavily relies on TSMC’s advanced manufacturing capabilities to produce chipsets used in the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers.
TSMC also supplies semiconductors to other major industry players. This includes NVIDIA, who is one of the largest producers of hardware used in AI development. They also supply chipsets to Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon components can be found in almost every Android device out there.
The company’s investment in the US will help grow its operations further, but it’s not hard to see that it is also a political move, one designed to stay in Trump’s good graces while he remains the President of the US.
