US President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick criticised Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for taking "advantage" of America, as they joined its CEO to announce US$100 billion in stateside investments on Monday.
"Today, Taiwan Semiconductor is announcing that they will be investing at least US$100 billion in new capital in the United States over the next short period of time to build state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facilities," Trump said.
Hailing the investment as a "tremendous move by the most powerful company in the world", the US leader said "the most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America and it'll be a big percentage" of the semiconductors made by TSMC.
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Asked if the investment would help to mitigate the impact on US semiconductor supplies if Beijing were to take Taiwan or isolate the island, Trump responded that "it would have a big impact if something should happen with Taiwan".
"I can't say it would minimise what would be a catastrophic event, obviously, but it will at least position us so that in this very, very important industry, we would have a significant part of it here in the United States," he said.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory, to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise the island as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any unilateral change to the status quo and is committed to supplying the island with weapons.
The TSMC news came as Trump prepares to impose additional tariffs on America's trading partners. On Monday, he addressed his strategy of wielding the threat of tariffs to pressure countries and companies to invest in the US.
"Look, the United States has been taken advantage of for 40 years. The United States has been a laughing stock for years and years. That's why this gentleman has built in Taiwan instead of building here. Would have been better if he built here," Trump said, pointing at TSMC chief C.C. Wei.
The president said that he believed the heads of leading tech companies probably did not like him "at all", but they were investing in the US because he had made it "very costly for people to take advantage of this country".
"They can't come in and steal our money and steal our jobs and take our factories and take our businesses and expect not to be punished, and they're being punished by tariffs," he added.
Trump has repeatedly accused Taiwan of "stealing" from the US chip industry and has opposed government subsidies to lure manufacturers stateside. He has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on imported chips, especially those from Taiwan.
Earlier on Monday, Wei met Trump at the White House in an effort to address these concerns and offered greater investment in the US.
In recent years, TSMC, the world's top manufacturer of advanced semiconductors, has been reluctant to make its most cutting-edge chips outside Taiwan, owing to the island's regulations restricting the export of its top core technologies.
Speaking to reporters after Trump delivered his comments, Wei said he was "a little bit nervous" to be standing alongside the US president.
Wei clarified that the US$100 billion investment would be in addition to the US$65 billion the company was spending on five semiconductor fabrication plants in Arizona that would create "thousands of high-paying jobs".
Lutnick described the deal as resulting from the "power" of the Trump presidency as he congratulated TSMC for coming to the US and avoiding tariffs.
"They're coming here in huge size because they want to be in the greatest market in the world. And they want to avoid the tariffs that if they're not here they'd have to suffer," he said.
"I want to congratulate C.C. Wei for bringing in this incredible US$100 billion dollar investment, but it's on the shoulders of our president, Donald Trump, which is why he's coming," Lutnick added.
The Trump administration is expected to announce new reciprocal tariffs against all American trade partners on April 2.
This latest investment could help Trump fulfil his pledge to position the US as a global leader in AI. Semiconductors are a key focus of the US-China tech competition.
On Monday, Trump said the TSMC deal would "create hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and boost America's dominance", calling semiconductors the "backbone of the 21st century economy".
The US should build advanced chips in American factories with "American skill and American labour", he continued, saying TSMC enjoyed a monopoly in the market.
During the four-year term of Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, TSMC received more than US$6 billion in grants to support its three plants in Arizona under the bipartisan Chips and Science Act of 2022.
On TSMC's part, the investment has totalled US$65 billion.
The first TSMC plant in the US was announced during Trump's first term as president in 2020. Mass production at the facility, which has nearly 3,000 workers, began late last year.
"TSMC received a US$6 billion grant and that encouraged them to build US$65 billion, so America gave TSMC 10 per cent of the money to build here," Lutnick said on Monday.
In comparison, under Trump, "the greatest manufacturer of chips in the world is coming to America with a US$100 billion investment", he added.
"And of course that is backed by the fact that they can come here because they can avoid paying tariffs."
