The United States receives a major Taiwanese investment in chips
The giant Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing company TSMC has agreed to build a semiconductor factory in Arizona, which will be its third, bringing its total investments in the United States to $65 billion, according to US officials. Monday.
US President Joe Biden’s chief advisor on the economy, Lael Brainard, praised the investment coinciding with a year that will witness presidential elections, considering it a new chapter for the American semiconductor industry.
She told reporters that the investment planned by TSMC is based on a preliminary agreement with the US Department of Commerce linked to a major investment law called the “Chips and Science Act”.
Based on this agreement, the Taiwanese company will receive an amount of up to $6.6 billion in direct financing from the US government, which can increase by an additional amount of $5 billion in the form of loans.
The law is one of the pillars of the administration’s efforts to protect and strengthen American industrial strength as Biden runs for a second term in November.
The United States is striving to prevent a shortage of advanced electronic chips necessary for the manufacture of cell phones, electric cars, and advanced military equipment.
The United States currently relies heavily on Asia for these components and therefore finds itself in a weak position in the event of a geopolitical crisis, especially in a sensitive country like Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory and pledges to annex it one day.
US officials said early Monday that TSMC, which had already planned to build two laboratories in Arizona, would develop more semiconductors than it had planned in one of them, and would also build a third facility.
Thus, the company raises its total investment in the United States from $40 billion to $65 billion.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “For the first time ever, we will manufacture on a large scale the world’s most advanced electronic semiconductor chips right here in the United States of America”.
She added, “These are the chips that form the basis of all artificial intelligence”.
Raimondo stated that through these plans, TSMC will create 6,000 direct jobs in advanced technology, more than 20,000 jobs in factory construction, and tens of thousands of indirect jobs.
