Trump Surprises With TSMC $300B Investment Claim

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is "coming over and spending $300 billion in Arizona, building the biggest plant in the world for chips and semiconductors," US President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

An aerial view of Taiwan semiconductors Mega Factory under construction in North Phoenix, Arizona – click to enlarge (Pic:Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock)

The president's casual assertion in a wide-ranging CNBC interview may have come as a surprise to TSMC, given that the contract chipmaker hung a $165 billion price tag on its American cash splurge just five months ago in a regulatory filing. 

TSMC's Phoenix plant was originally supposed to cost a mere $12 billion, but over the last five years the plan has expanded into a sprawling complex comprising six wafer fabs, two advanced packaging facilities, and an R&D center.

The first fab has been producing 4nm-process chips in volume since late last year. So far, there is no indication that TSMC is going to start more cutting-edge 3nm-process production anywhere outside of Taiwan.

TSMC declined to comment to The Register on Trump's latest pronouncement, and also on a separate report, from Taiwan's mnews.tw website, that claimed Trump has asked for major concessions from TSMC in exchange for reduced tariffs on Taiwanese exports to the US.

According to that unconfirmed report, Trump wants TSMC, the crown jewel of the Taiwanese economy, to both invest "an additional $400 billion" in the US and buy a 49 percent stake in Intel, the US's ailing legacy chip giant.

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As things stand, the US will hit Taiwanese exports with a 20 percent tariff starting Thursday – down from the 32 percent that Trump was originally going to levy, but notably higher than the 15 percent tariffs negotiated by the likes of Japan and the EU.

However, the 20 percent rate won't apply to chips, which will be subject to a sector-specific tariff scheme that Trump said he will reveal "within the next week or so." ®