US President-elect Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of “stealing” his country's chip industry. But Taiwan's largest chip company is confident the Trump administration will proceed to fund its projects within the United States
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Under Joe Biden's administration, $6.6 billion was promised CHIPS and Science Act to assist construct three state-of-the-art chip factories in Arizona as a part of the U.S. effort Onshore chip manufacturing.
TSMC Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said in an exclusive interview with CNBC's Emily Tan that funding is anticipated to proceed to be phased in under Trump as factories reach construction and production milestones.
“In fact, we have already received the first government support in the fourth quarter,” Haung said, revealing that the contract chipmaker received $1.5 billion in funding.
After some production delays, the primary manufacturing plant in Arizona began producing advanced chips within the fourth quarter of last yr, Huang said. He added that construction of two plants in Arizona is on target and the second plant is anticipated to be accomplished Ready for operation in 2028.
TSMCs first investment in Arizona was announced in May 2020, with the corporate's total investment in its three projects there ultimately exceeding $65 billion.
Much of the investment was committed after the Biden administration signed the bipartisan CHIPS Act in August 2022 almost $53 billion to take a position within the domestic semiconductor supply chain and counter China.
While the brand new president can be expected to make competition with China and outsourcing manufacturing a priority in his second term, there was debate over whether Trump and the Republican-led House of Representatives would revisit the CHIPS Act.
During his campaign for the White House, Trump publicly criticized the bill and its price tag, arguing as a substitute that tariffs were a simpler strategy for onshore chip manufacturing. The president-elect also accused Taiwan of “stealing” US chip deals.
However, industry experts told CNBC that they expect Trump to go away the policy mostly unchanged due to bipartisan support in Washington.
TSMC reported record fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, sending its shares up nearly 4%, on strong demand for its AI chips. Shares closed 1.36% higher on Friday.
In an earnings call following the outcomes, CEO and Chairman CC Wei highlighted TSMC's “long-standing and positive relationship” with the U.S. government, in addition to the commitment and support the corporate has received on the federal, state and city levels.
“I assure you that we have very open and frank communication with the current government and also the future government,” he said in response to an investor query.
On Thursday, Wei also said the corporate wouldn’t attend Trump's inauguration, preferring to maintain a low profile.
image credit : www.cnbc.com