Summary
Trump plans to impose tariffs of up to 100% on semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, aiming to push U.S. tech companies like Apple, Nvidia, and AMD to produce chips domestically.
The tariffs target Taiwan’s TSMC, a key supplier, despite its partial U.S. production in Arizona.
Trump criticized Biden’s CHIPS Act for funding companies like Intel and proposed tariffs as an alternative incentive.
Experts warn the move could raise prices for electronics as most TSMC chips are assembled in Asia before export to the U.S.
I read somewhere that the Taiwan government doesn’t allow advanced chip technology knowledge be used in the US factory?..
I mean, it is their one real bargaining chip to make sure the US keeps standing between them and China. They are teaching us some of it though, and we’ve been building fabs to make them here in the US for years. Biden got that ball rolling.
Photolithography itself was invented in the US a while ago, but the company that perfect the manufacturing process that is used for modern chips is in either Belgium or Denmark iirc. That company just leases its machines to TSMC so it’s entirely possible they could just move the machines to the USA. But that’s my surface level understanding, I don’t know for sure.
Netherlands, with key components (precision lenses) made in Germany. None of this could be made in the US in reasonable time.