President Donald Trump and TSMC (TSM) announced Monday that the Taiwanese chip manufacturer will invest at least $100 billion in its US manufacturing capabilities “over the next short period of time,” bringing the company’s total investment in the US to $165 billion.
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said during a briefing at the White House that the new investment will be used to build three new chip manufacturing facilities, two advanced packaging plants, and a research and development center in Arizona. Intel (INTC) is currently the only chip manufacturer with R&D in the US.
“Most importantly, actually, we are going to produce many AI chips,” Wei said.
“The most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America,” Trump said, adding that the TSMC investment is expected to generate between 20,000 and 25,000 jobs.
Various media outlets had reported on the investment ahead of its official announcement
TSMC, which manufactures the most advanced AI chips for Big Tech firms including Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA), had already committed to investing over $65 billion to build three US manufacturing facilities, or “fabs,” in Arizona since 2020. The Taiwanese company’s first US fab is fully operational, the second is slated for operation beginning in 2028, and the third has not yet begun construction.
Analysts and politicians see the company’s US expansion as crucial to strengthening the United States’ domestic manufacturing footprint as US-China tensions rise and the government looks to reclaim technological dominance in the space.
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) CEO C.C. Wei in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 3 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) · Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
“President Trump has made it a fundamental objective to bring semiconductor chip manufacturing home to America,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday in the briefing. He suggested that TSMC’s investment was made to “avoid paying tariffs.”
“They’re coming here in huge size because they want to be in the greatest market in the world, and they want to avoid the tariffs, and if they’re not here, they’d have to suffer,” Lutnik said.
Read more: What are tariffs, and how do they affect you?
Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman told Yahoo Finance: “With tariffs on the horizon and the United States pushing aggressively to bring more manufacturing to the US, a bigger more immediate commitment from TSMC should serve as a signal of goodwill…”
TSMC announced plans to build its first of its US chip factories in Arizona in 2020, during Trump’s first term. The company committed to building a second fab in 2022 and a third site in 2024 after it was awarded $6.6 billion in federal grants as part of the US Chips and Science Act.
