The government would work to ensure that the nation’s investments in the US, especially in the semiconductor industry, serve the interests of both sides, a Taiwanese national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The government would not force Taiwanese companies to invest in any specific location, but was planning to engage with those looking to expand overseas to understand their needs better, the official said, adding that the government’s role would be to assist those companies in addressing challenges they might face and ensure that discussions with the US “serve the core interests” of both sides.
The government would not restrict tech exports, but it remains a question of whether the US has sufficient workforce and expertise to support the entire semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, the official said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is building advanced chip plants in the US, the official said, referring to the company’s estimated US$65 billion investment in three semiconductor fabs in Arizona.
The Taiwan-US relationship is not competitive, but rather complementary, and the government remains confident it can maintain and improve its ties with Washington, the official said.
The official’s comments came shortly after President William Lai (賴清德) on Friday convened a high-level national security meeting in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s renewed pledge to impose tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors to encourage the movement of chip manufacturing to the US.
Lai said that the government would propose a special budget to increase the nation’s defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP this year, as well as increase Taiwanese investments in the US.
Lai said the Executive Yuan is conducting a comprehensive inventory of opportunities for Taiwan-US economic and trade cooperation.
He also touted an initiative to promote semiconductor supply chain partnerships for democracies around the world, saying that Taiwan would collaborate with the US and other democratic partners to facilitate a more resilient and diversified semiconductor supply chain.
Speaking about Lai’s democratic semiconductor supply chain initiative, the official said the administration was hoping to bring together other semiconductor partners, including the US and Japan, to form “some kind of alliance.”
Taiwan is a global leader in producing advanced chips and is willing to further collaborate with other democratic countries on semiconductor supply chains, the official said.
Meanwhile, the White House has listed Taiwan’s pledge to boost investment in the US as one of Trump’s victories in the past week.
In an article titled “Wins Come All Day Under President Donald J. Trump” released on Friday, the White House listed dozens of items that it said were “a few of the many victories from the past week” for the US public under Trump.
Among them was “Taiwan pledged to boost its investment in the United States amid President Trump’s tariffs,” which included a hyperlink to a report by the Financial Times on Lai’s pledge to boost procurement and investment in the US in response to “Trump’s global tariff threats and pressure on Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.”
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