Trump says Taiwan is doubling the size of chipmaking plant in Arizona

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Taiwan is doubling the size of the chipmaking plants under construction in Arizona, adding that it could help the U.S. share of the chip market rise to 50% by the end of his term.”We’re creating more jobs, we have more people working today than have ever worked in the history of our country. It’s great and that’s before these places opened,” Trump said before his departure from Joint Base Andrews.The president said that new chip plants will be opening up over the next year and that chipmakers from Taiwan, such as the industry leader TSMC, are adding to their investments in the U.S.”The biggest company in the world, actually, the chipmaker. But they’re coming in, they’re building in Arizona, and they just announced they’re going to double the size. We could have 50% of the chip market by the time I leave office. You know what we have now? Nothing,” Trump added.US, TAIWAN COME TO $250B ‘AMERICA FIRST’ TARIFF DEAL OVER SEMICONDUCTORSThe Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) declined comment.TSMC has previously announced large investments in building chipmaking facilities in the U.S., including an announcement of a series of investments that ultimately totaled $65 billion in 2024 as the U.S. CHIPS Act was signed into law that November. That investment covered three chip fabrication plants in Arizona.DEFENSE TECH COMPANY HEAD CALLS FOR TURNING TAIWAN INTO A ‘PRICKLY PORCUPINE THAT NOBODY WANTS TO STEP ON’Then in March 2025, TSMC announced another $100 billion investment to help build a self-sustaining supply chain for artificial intelligence (AI) chips in the U.S.That $100 billion investment included three new fabrication plants in Phoenix that would focus on next-gen AI chips for computer processors and smartphones, plus two advanced packaging facilities in Arizona and a center for research and development on next-generation technologies.CHIP GIANT TSMC TO INVEST $100B IN US MANUFACTURINGTSMC said at the time that the project was the largest single foreign direct investment in U.S. history and would support 40,000 construction jobs over four years plus tens of thousands of high-paying jobs in chip manufacturing and R&D.The company has historically kept the manufacturing of its most sophisticated chips in Taiwan, though the fabs expected to become operational by the end of this decade are designed to produce more advanced chips.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREReshoring production of chips has been a priority of the Trump administration, which has used the threat of tariffs to spur investments in U.S. chip facilities.Taiwan is the primary source of American imports of the most advanced chips, with the U.S. International Trade Commission finding in 2023 that Taiwan made over 44% of the logic chips imported to the U.S.