A logo of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is displayed on a smartphone screen
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty pictures
The Trump administration is urging Taipei to move investments and chip production to the United States so that half of the American chips are made in Germany, which could affect Taiwan’s national defense.
Washington has held talks about the “50-50” column in semiconductor production with Taipei, which would significantly reduce the American dependence on Taiwan, said US trade minister Howard Lutnick in an interview published over the weekend.
Taiwan is to produce over 90% of the advanced semiconductors in the world, which according to Lutnick, due to the distance of Inselstraße from the USA and the proximity to China, provides concern.
“My goal and the aim of this administration is to make the chip production considerably – we have to make our own chips,” said Lutnick. “The idea that I opened [Taiwan] We were 50-50. We produce half and they produce half. ”
Lutnick’s goal is to achieve a domestic semiconductor production of around 40% until the end of the current term of office of US President Donald Trump, which would take local investments of 500 billion US dollars, he said.
Taiwan’s stronghold for chip production is thanks Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.The world’s largest and most progressive contract chip maker who takes over the production for American technology heavyweights such as Nvidia and Apple.
It is believed that the critical position of Taiwan has assured the defense of the island state against direct military measures from China in the production of global chips, which is often referred to as the “Silicon Shield” theory.
In his news nation interview, however, Lutnick played down the “Silicon Shield” and argued that Taiwan would be more secure with a more balanced chip production between the USA and Taiwan.
“My argument was to you when you have 95% [chip production]How should I get it to protect you? Will you put it on a plane? Will you put it on a boat? “, Said Lutnick.
As part of the 50-50 plan, the USA would still be “fundamentally instructed” in Taiwan, but would have the ability to “do what we have to do if we have to do it,” he added.
Beijing sees the democratically ruled island of Taiwan as a own territory and has sworn to regain it by force. The current government party of Taipei rejected such claims and pushed back.
This year the Chinese military carried out a number of major exercises off the coast of Taiwan while testing its military skills. Washington confirmed his commitment to the support of Taiwan in April during one of the military exercises in April.
More than consideration for defense
Lutnick’s statements about the news nation interview corresponded to the former comments from Trump, which indicates that the USA should receive more in return for the defense of the island station against China.
Last year, the then presidential candidate Trump said in an interview that Taiwan had paid the USA for defense and had “stolen” the country of the United States chip business.
The United States was once a leader on the global semiconductor market, but lost due to the shifts of the industry and the development of Asian jobber such as TSMC and market share Samsung.
However, Washington has worked to reverse this trend across several administrations.
TSMC has been building manufacturing facilities in the United States since 2020 and continues to invest in the country. It announced the intentions of investing a further 100 billion US dollars in March, which increased its overall planned investments to $ 165 billion.
The Trump government recently proposed 100% tariffs for semiconductors, but said that companies that invest in the United States were exempt. The United States and Taiwan also remain in trade negotiations, which are likely to affect collective bargaining prices for Taiwanese companies.
Comments are closed.