Former US president Donald Trump "has a lot on his plate" and misunderstands Taiwan's role in the semiconductor industry, possibly because others have misinformed him, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today.
Trump, the Republic nominee in November's presidential election, unnerved Taiwan by saying in July that "Taiwan should pay us for defense," and that it had taken US semiconductor business.
Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg
His remarks pummelled shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple and Nvidia.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei ahead of this week's Semicon Taiwan exhibition, set to be attended by top executives from TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix, Kuo rejected Trump's remarks.
"Taiwan did not steal the US chip industry," said Kuo, previously a senior executive of a TSMC supplier, Topco Scientific.
Taiwan helps complement the US chip industry in manufacturing, and makes chips as commissioned by US industry, he added.
"This is a misunderstanding on Trump's part. The president has a lot on his plate; maybe a friend or a competitor in Taiwan told him that," Kuo said.
TSMC is spending billions building new factories overseas, including US$65 billion on three plants in the US state of Arizona, although it says most manufacturing would stay in Taiwan.
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