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.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS