Republican former president Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of stealing the United States’ chip industry. As the U.S. continues counting votes for the presidential election, whether or not the outcome of the election will affect TSMC’s status remains to be the question in focus. This Wednesday Economics Minister J. W. Kuo (郭智輝) responded to such concerns at the Legislature, stating that the election outcome is unlikely to have a significant impact on TSMC.
Kuo says that from a business perspective, the United States’ and Taiwan’s role in the chip supply chain are complementary. The U.S. is responsible for 70-80% of the world’s integrated circuit (IC) design, and Taiwan is a strong manufacturer of chips. Kuo says that imposing restrictions on semiconductor policies may not necessarily be a good thing for U.S. companies should Trump be elected and choose to do so.
Regarding TSMC’s Arizona plant, which is scheduled to begin mass production early 2025, Kuo confirmed that the plant has fully completed trial production and is on track to hold a successful completion ceremony as anticipated for early December.
National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) points out that should Trump collect protection fees from Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers, major international manufacturers including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, and Intel would likely be negatively affected. Liu says that as a businessman, Trump will not likely make decisions that will cause the cost of American products to rise, also affecting public opinion. Liu therefore concludes that such remarks were just election rhetoric.
On the contrary, Liu says that Trump may impose a 60% tariff on Chinese companies, causing the U.S. to reduce Chinese imports, and opening up more opportunities for Taiwanese businesses. If Trump were to expand the ban on Chinese companies such as Huawei, Taiwanese companies stand to benefit, Liu claims.