TSMC to invest $100 bn in US expansion on strong customer demand: CEO

Apple chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) CEO CC Wei said US investment will not impact domestic expansion

Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) has said it was expanding investment in the United States because of strong customer demand. This comes after CEO CC Wei met Donald Trump at the White House earlier this week where the US President announced the company's $100 billion investment.

 

Addressing a joint press conference at Taiwan's Presidential Office on Thursday, Wei said the company's production lines in the US are already fully booked for this year and the next two years. Wei said that TSMC's US investment will not impact domestic expansion in Taiwan amid concerns it could damage the island's semiconductor industry.

 

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called it a "historic moment" for Taiwan-US ties.

 

According to media reports, the world's largest contract chipmaker plans to build five additional chip facilities amid threats from President Donald Trump to impose 25 per cent or higher tariffs on semiconductor imports. Trump had earlier criticised Taiwan, saying it had taken away American semiconductor business and that he wants manufacturing to return to the US.

 

Speaking about the company's plan, Wei told reporters that TSMC plans to build three new production lines in the US over the coming years, it will build 11 more new production lines in Taiwan this year.

 

"We will continue to build them (in Taiwan) because it is still not enough," he said. A key manufacturing partner to Nvidia, Apple and Qualcomm, TSMC's overseas investment plans also include projects in Japan and Germany.

 

(With inputs from agencies)