US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Thursday said he believed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) could boost its US investment to more than US$200 billion and create 30,000 jobs in the process.
In a televised CNBC interview, Lutnick was asked about the CHIPS Act, which he heavily criticized, citing what he described as overly generous subsidies to chipmakers.
The administration of former US president Joe Biden handed Intel US$11 billion “like it was a shareholder Christmas card,” he said, adding that US President Donald Trump’s administration has since taken the grants and funds from the CHIPS Act and turned them into equity in Intel.
Photo: EPA, Bloomberg
He also criticized the US$6 billion given to TSMC to invest US$60 billion to build plants in the US.
“Now we thought that wasn’t right. They went up to US $160 billion. I think we are going to get it up to US$200-plus billion in plants in America,” Lutnick said, without providing any evidence backing his belief.
TSMC initially pledged US$65 billion in investment in three advanced semiconductor fabs in Arizona under the CHIPS Act.
The first of the three plants has started mass production while the other two are at different stages of construction.
Earlier this year, TSMC pledged another US$100 billion in investment in the complex for three more semiconductor fabs, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center, although work does not appear to have begun on any of those projects.
Trump opposes using government funds as giveaways, Lutnick said.
“This concept of the government just being a giveaway of your tax dollars, Donald Trump just doesn’t stand for it. He wants the American people to get the benefit of the bargain. And that seems perfectly reasonable if you think about it,” he said.
Left unsaid by Lutnick was that Trump has preferred to use sticks rather than carrots to lure investment, including setting high tariffs on goods imported from overseas that have had their own negative effects, including acting as taxes on US importers and consumers.
Economists have said US corporate bankruptcies are approaching a 15-year high, with small businesses particularly affected in part due to Trump’s tariffs.
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