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Semiconductor
The United States and Taiwan reached a trade deal on Thursday that cuts tariffs on Taiwanese goods in exchange for USD 250 billion in new investments in the US tech industry. The deal is the latest President Donald Trump has struck such as those with the European Union and Japan since he unveiled a sweeping tariff plan last April to address trade imbalances. Trump also has a one-year trade truce with China to stabilise ties with the world's second largest economy. Trump initially set the tariff at 32 per cent on Taiwanese goods but later changed it to 20 per cent. The new agreement slashes the tariff rate to 15 per cent, the same as levied on other US trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region such as Japan and South Korea. In a statement, the US Department of Commerce said the deal with Taiwan would establish an economic partnership to create several world-class US-based industrial parks in order to help build up domestic production. The department described it as "a historic ..
Taiwan-based TSMC, the world's largest computer chip maker, plans to increase its capital spending by about 40% this year after it reported a 35% jump in its net profit for the latest quarter thanks to the boom in artificial intelligence, the company said Thursday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a major supplier to companies including Nvidia and Apple, reported a net profit of 506 billion new Taiwan dollars ($16 billion) for the October-December quarter, a 35% surge from a year earlier, better than analysts' estimates. TSMC said Thursday that its revenue in the last quarter increased 21% from a year earlier to more than 1.046 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($33 billion). TSMC said it plans to boost its capital expenditure budget to $52 billion-$56 billion for 2026, up from about $40 billion last year. The company's shares have climbed more than 8% since the beginning of the year, reflecting its strong position in the AI-driven market. Other tech giants including Microsoft,