A Taiwanese official has made 'aggressive' claims about TSMC's investments in America, arguing that it was a necessary step to prevent competitors from gaining an advantage in the region.
TSMC's Investments In the US Were Necessary To Keep Competition Behind & Fulfill Customer Demands
TSMC's interest in the US chip industry has been viewed skeptically by the Taiwanese people and officials, who consider it a potential 'technology transfer' to the US. More importantly, most of TSMC's client base consists of American companies, such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Apple, which demonstrates that US policies and conditions are vital to the Taiwanese chip giant. According to a report by the Taiwanese media outlet Ctee, quoting Taiwan's former EU envoy Roy Chun Lee, one of the reasons behind TSMC's investments in the US was to divert the US government's attention away from Intel.
If Taiwanese people oppose TSMC's investment in the US and demand that it remain in Taiwan, Lee Chun said that would damage the trust between TSMC and its customers, and the US might then go all out to support Intel. "We shouldn't force others to support TSMC's competitor."
- Ctee (Machine Translated)
When you look at TSMC's influence over the US chip industry, it's evident that the company's investments became 'necessary' at one point, considering that American customers would prefer a stable supply chain. The Taiwan official mentions that talks around TSMC's massive $165 billion investment started under the Biden adminstration, as the idea was to capitalize on the semiconductor industry's interest in shifting its production lines to the US. And by the looks of it, another reason for TSMC's large-scale investments was to prevent Intel from gaining attention.
Considering that TSMC refused to invest in the US, not only would the firm face hefty tariffs, but companies like NVIDIA and Apple would have no other option but to look towards in-house alternatives. The only company besides TSMC capable of producing cutting-edge nodes in the US is indeed Intel. Hence, it won't be wrong to say that the expansion of the Taiwan chip giant in America does pose a concern to Intel's chipmaking ambitions, since instead of being the 'primary' option, Team Blue is now degraded to be an 'alternative'.
TSMC's investments in the US have so far been a massive success for the firm, with plans to scale up to cutting-edge nodes, such as the A16 (1.6nm). Similarly, the Taiwan giant is looking to open new facilities in America as well, to ensure that the demand from its clients is catered to.
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