TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US President Donald Trump softened his accusation that Taiwan stole US semiconductor manufacturing on Friday by saying, “I don’t blame them.”
Trump spoke at a White House press briefing after TSMC pledged to invest NT$3.29 trillion (US$100 billion) more in its US operations. He touted the investment to reporters, saying TSMC’s Arizona plants will “give us a big percentage” of the chip market.
Trump then repeated his claim that Taiwan stole semiconductor manufacturing from the US company Intel but added. “They took it from us and I don’t blame them, I give them credit,” he said.
Experts disagree with Trump’s claim. Taiwan’s economic minister also refuted the accusation last year, saying Trump was “misled.”
Trump also repeated that he wants to overturn the CHIPS Act, a program to attract semiconductor manufacturers to the US via subsidies, of which TSMC has been a major beneficiary. He criticized diversity requirements in the act and said it was a waste of money.
“One of the greatest chip companies in the world, I didn’t give them 10 cents. They came here … because they didn’t want to pay the tariffs,” Trump said, referring to TSMC.
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said on Wednesday that the company’s investments have always been driven by customer demand. “I can honestly tell you that I only ask for fairness. We are not afraid of competition,” he said.
