TAIPEI, February 13 (Reuters) – Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said on Friday that the $250 billion Taiwan has pledged to invest in the United States will be left to companies to decide where to spend it, but its largest production capacity will remain at home.
Trump administration officials signed a final reciprocal trade agreement on Thursday, confirming the 15% U.S. tariffs on Taiwanese imports and committing Taiwan to a timetable to eliminate or reduce tariffs on nearly all U.S. goods.
The outlines of a deal struck last month include Taiwan committing its companies to invest $250 billion to boost U.S. production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence, including $100 billion already committed by TSMC.
Jimmy Lai said that the message he conveyed when he took office two years ago was that Taiwan’s national economic strategy is to establish Taiwan’s global presence and sell to the world.
When asked whether TSMC’s investment in the United States would bring the risk of hollowing out Taiwan’s industry, he told reporters: “This round of tariff negotiations is also a very important opportunity. Its purpose is exactly: to bring our industry to the world.”
“Whether it is TSMC or other industries, as long as the R&D center is in Taiwan, the advanced manufacturing technology is in Taiwan, and the maximum production capacity is in Taiwan, Taiwan can continue to develop stably.”
He said the government respects companies’ investment decisions.
“This includes our negotiations with the United States this time: of course, the $250 billion investment refers to companies’ own voluntary investment decisions.”
TSMC, which is investing a total of $165 billion to build a factory in Arizona, did not respond to a request for comment.
The company, a major global producer of advanced chips driving the artificial intelligence trend, said last month that more U.S. manufacturing capacity was on the way.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Stephen Coates)