Trump announces $100 billion investment by Taiwan semiconductor manufacturer

President Trump announced Monday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to spend $100 billion on new manufacturing plants in Arizona.

TSMC is the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, producing chips that are used by big-name companies like Apple and Intel in such items as computers, smartphones, cars and medical equipment.

“This will create hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and boost America’s dominance in artificial intelligence and beyond,” Mr. Trump said in the announcement. “Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy and really without the semiconductors there is no economy.”

The money will go towards five new facilities in Arizona and, according to Mr. Trump, create 20-25,000 jobs.

“The most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America,” he said.

The president called the move “a matter of economic security, it’s also a matter of national security.”

“We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in American factories with American skill and American labor,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re doing.”

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said he was “happy” to announce the $100 billion investment and thanked Mr. Trump for his support.

“It’s going to create thousands of high-paying jobs,” Mr. Wei said.

There will be no tariffs on chips manufactured in the U.S. by TSMC.

Mr. Trump said these and other new factories will put the U.S. manufacturing share at close to 40% of the chips on the worldwide market.

The company benefited from then-President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 when it was promised $6.6 billion in funding. It has already invested over $65 billion to build three facilities in Arizona, the first of which started producing 4-nanometer chips late last year.

The announcement comes as Mr. Trump has threatened to place tariffs of up to 100% on semiconductor-chip imports if production isn’t moved to the U.S.

Mr. Trump has bashed the Biden-era act for providing money to a company that already has plenty. He has also raised concerns over Taiwan’s dominance in the industry.

“They left us and went to Taiwan,” Mr. Trump told congressional Republicans in January. “And we don’t want to give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous program that Biden has given everybody billions of dollars. They already have billions of dollars. They’ve got nothing but money. … They didn’t need money. They needed an incentive. And the incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100% tax.”

The TSMC announcement is just one of several investment announcements Mr. Trump has made.

The heads of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank have plans to invest up to $500 billion for artificial intelligence infrastructure. DAMAC Properties will also be investing $20 billion to build data centers.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has also announced plans to invest $500 billion into the U.S. and move manufacturing plants from Mexico into the U.S.

Honda announced Monday that it will produce its next-generation Civic hybrid in the U.S. instead of Mexico to avoid possible tariffs.