The announcement that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, will invest an additional US$100 billion in the United States – and avoid harmful tariffs – could inspire other major Asian firms to follow its lead and those of South Korean giants by making moves that could isolate mainland China, analysts said on Tuesday.
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US President Donald Trump on Monday announced the TSMC investment in three new chip-fabrication plants, two packaging facilities, and a research and development centre, potentially adding 20,000 to 25,000 jobs in the US state of Arizona.
The president, who advocates more onshoring of industry to stimulate the US economy, said that without TSMC’s commitment, tariffs on its chip imports might otherwise reach an eventual 25-50 per cent.
Other major East Asian chipmakers will probably move production to the US, too, as “the Trump administration’s threat of tariffs on imported semiconductors poses a serious challenge for the region’s tech-heavy economies”, said Jeemin Bang, a Taiwan analyst for Moody’s Analytics.
South Korean electronics giants LG and Samsung, for example, were considering moving plants to the US, Korean media outlets reported in January. Both companies develop chips.
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The White House statement said Trump had “secured” nearly US$2 trillion in US-based investment and that “the best is yet to come”.
Trump is ratcheting up tariffs on mainland China, Canada and Mexico this week, following a February threat of 25 per cent tariffs on foreign semiconductor chips. Tariffs are levied against exporter countries or regions rather than companies.