Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. the world’s top producer of AI chips, plans to invest an additional $100 billion in US plants that will boost its chip output on American soil and support President Donald Trump’s goal of increasing domestic manufacturing.
TSMC Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei joined Trump at the White House on Monday to unveil the company’s vision for expanding a US footprint that got its start in 2020 during the president’s first term in office. Trump said the move means “The most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America.”
“Without the semiconductors, there is no economy powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing,” Trump said from the Roosevelt Room.
The spending adds to $65 billion in TSMC investments in the US that are already in the pipeline, Wei said, emphasizing that the moves would create thousands of new jobs.
TSMC is the world’s leader in production of advanced semiconductors used for artificial intelligence, and is the main chip manufacturing partner for Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. The investment would help bolster Trump’s pledge to make the US dominant in AI.
TSMC’s new investments will still need approval from Taiwan’s government. Taiwanese officials have said they will prudently review outbound investments in advanced chip tech. A presidential spokesman did not answer calls outside of regular office hours.
Shares of TSMC’s American depositary receipts were down more than 3% earlier in the day but began to pare losses as Wei and Trump spoke.
TSMC’s announcement marked the latest major technology investment in the US since Trump’s return to power, with more than $1 trillion in spending pledges from companies including Apple, OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. Even so, the scope of many of those commitments remains unclear, and some of the investments, including by Meta, may include previously planned spending.
Source: Yahoo
