US President Donald Trump renewed criticism of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry this week, arguing that aggressive tariffs could have prevented chip manufacturing from shifting overseas and claiming the United States “lost the chip industry.”
Trump made the remarks during a recent interview, where he said tariffs on imported semiconductors would have discouraged companies from relocating production abroad. “If they would’ve put tariffs on chips coming in they would’ve never left,” Trump said. The comments come as semiconductor manufacturing and supply chain security remain central issues in global trade policy and geopolitical competition.
At the center of the debate is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and one of the most strategically important companies in the global technology industry. TSMC manufactures advanced semiconductors used in products ranging from Apple iPhones and Nvidia artificial intelligence systems to AMD processors and electric vehicles. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Taiwan produces more than 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, underscoring the island’s growing geopolitical importance.
While Trump framed Taiwan’s rise as a loss for the United States, the origins of TSMC are deeply connected to the American semiconductor industry. The company was founded by Morris Chang, a China-born engineer who became a US citizen and spent 25 years working at Texas Instruments after studying at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chang later returned to Taiwan in the 1980s and pioneered a manufacturing-focused business model that transformed the global semiconductor industry.
TSMC’s success coincided with a broader industry shift in which many American technology companies moved away from owning their own manufacturing facilities and instead outsourced chip production to specialized foundries. As semiconductor manufacturing became increasingly expensive and technically complex, companies such as Apple, Nvidia and AMD relied more heavily on overseas production partners like TSMC, helping cement Taiwan’s dominance in advanced chip fabrication.
The discussion reflects growing concern in Washington over semiconductor dependence and industrial competitiveness as the US seeks to rebuild domestic chip production through subsidies, trade measures and national security initiatives. Semiconductor supply chains have become a major focus of global economic policy following pandemic-related shortages and rising tensions between the United States and China.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/trump-says-taiwan-stole-chip-211000711.html