Taiwan’s chip industry can now have a temporary reprieve, as semiconductors have been listed among imports exempted from the latest round of tariffs announced on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump, an analyst said yesterday.
The exemption of semiconductors gave some insight into Trump’s tactics, equity analyst Andy Hsu (許博傑) told the Central News Agency (CNA) in a phone interview in Taipei.
“Trump made some tariff threats at first, then TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, 台積電] pledged massive investments in the United States,” Hsu said, referring to TSMC’s announcement on March 3 that it would invest another US$100 billion in Arizona over the next few years.
Photo: CNA
“For now, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry can have a brief reprieve, but an unpredictable Trump means uncertainties remain, so I do not think the industry can stop worrying about tariff threats for too long,” Hsu said.
Furthermore, there are concerns about whether Trump would withhold the funding pledged by the previous US administration for semiconductor investors such as TSMC under the CHIPS and Science Act, Hsu said.
The White House has a goal to obtain billions more in commitments without the need to expand such grants, according to US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in a recent news report.
An industry expert told CNA that that the US government might ask Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers to lower the prices of their products and services, including those in the wafer foundry, integrated circuit design, and chip packaging and testing sectors.
While big suppliers could afford to drop prices to appease the US government, their smaller counterparts cannot make such big cuts, which might lead to a decline in their shipments or even a full exit from the market eventually, said the expert, who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, TSMC’s response to the US’ latest tariff policies would be closely watched, as the company prepares to hold an investors’ conference on April 17, the expert said.
Trump has said publicly on several occasions that TSMC’s investments in the US would hit US$200 billion or even US$300 billion, which analysts said raises the question of whether the chipmaker would pour even more funds into the US amid the tariff threats.
Analysts have said there is some worry about leaks of TSMC trade secrets if it yields to prospective US government pressure to take a stake in Intel Corp to improve the US chipmaker’s foundry operations.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS