Trump to announce Taiwanese firm’s $100 billion investment in U.S. chip plants

Washington — President Trump on Monday will announce that a leading Taiwanese semiconductor chip company plans to invest $100 billion in new manufacturing plants in the U.S., two sources tell CBS News. 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, is one of the world’s three largest manufacturers of semiconductor chips, and plans to make the major investment over the next four years, the sources said. 

Mr. Trump expected to make the announcement at a 1:30 p.m. event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the investment pledge.

TSMC is a major player in the semiconductor space. The company was promised $6.6 billion in funding under the Biden-era CHIPS and SCIENCE Act of 2022, and announced plans for its first U.S. plant in Arizona. 

The anticipated announcement comes amid Mr. Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on semiconductor chip imports, which TSMC could avoid by manufacturing the chips in the U.S. The president has also floated expedited permits for companies that invest at least $1 billion in the U.S.

Semiconductor chips are small but critical components for today’s technology, with small pieces of silicone that contain electronic circuits. Semiconductor chips are found in everything from iPhones to cars, and demand has boomed in recent years thanks to the explosion in artificial intelligence, which requires an enormous amount of computing power.

The vast majority of semiconductor chips are manufactured in Asian countries, with Taiwan at the top, and the Trump administration is hoping to draw more manufacturing to the U.S. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have viewed increasing U.S. chip manufacturing a matter of national security.