President Trump announced on Monday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading chip producer, will invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years. This investment aims to expand production capacity and introduce TSMC’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology to its Arizona facilities.
According to Mr. Trump, the investment will enable TSMC to begin producing artificial intelligence and smartphone chips in Arizona.
With this commitment, TSMC’s total planned investment in the U.S. will reach $165 billion. The expansion will increase the company’s Arizona footprint from three to six manufacturing plants, create 25,000 jobs, and establish a research and development center focused on advancing future semiconductor production technologies.
TSMC’s expansion follows years of efforts to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing. For over five years, U.S. officials have expressed concerns that TSMC’s dominance in the chip industry poses a national security risk, fearing that U.S. access to cutting-edge chips—currently produced in Taiwan—could be jeopardized due to Beijing’s ambitions to reclaim the island as part of China.
The Trump administration initially urged TSMC to build facilities in the U.S., and the Biden administration furthered these efforts by enacting the CHIPS Act, a bipartisan initiative allocating $39 billion in federal funding to support the construction and expansion of semiconductor manufacturing plants. These facilities produce essential chips used in a wide range of products, from automobiles to consumer electronics like iPads.
Speaking at a White House event, Mr. Trump emphasized that TSMC’s investment would reduce national security risks and encourage other companies to expand their manufacturing operations in the U.S.
“Semiconductors are the foundation of the 21st-century economy. Without them, there is no economy,” Mr. Trump said. “We must have the capability to produce the chips and semiconductors we need right here in America, utilizing American expertise and American labor.”
TSMC’s CEO, C.C. Wei, joined Mr. Trump at the event, confirming that the company will manufacture AI and smartphone chips in the U.S. He also noted that American clients, including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Broadcom, supported the factory expansion.
Mr. Trump added that this investment would help TSMC circumvent tariffs of 25% or more on chips produced in Taiwan. Since taking office in January, he has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100% on Taiwanese chips and has criticized the CHIPS Act for not effectively incentivizing companies like TSMC to shift more of their production to the U.S.
Since Mr. Trump assumed office, TSMC and Taiwanese officials have been working to address the tariff threats. In January, Mr. Wei met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss potential investments in the U.S. They explored the possibility of TSMC acquiring a stake in Intel and taking over the manufacturing operations of the Silicon Valley giant. Additionally, Taiwanese officials traveled to Washington to propose various investment deals in the U.S.
Under the CHIPS Act, TSMC had initially committed $65 billion to build three factories in Arizona, focused on producing legacy chips—less advanced than those made in Taiwan. The company also received $6.6 billion in federal funding to support this project.
Monday’s announcement marks TSMC as the latest in a series of companies making major investment pledges at the White House. In January, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank jointly committed $500 billion to data center development over the next four years. Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Mr. Trump before the company pledged another $500 billion investment, part of which will go toward building a new AI server factory in Houston.
“They’re making these massive investments because they want to be part of the greatest market in the world and avoid tariffs,” Mr. Lutnick said at the event. “If they don’t establish operations here, they’ll face significant costs.”
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