Tariffs on semiconductors hinted by US president as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing plans to invest $100B in US chip facilities
US President Donald Trump has called for an end to former President Joe Biden's $52 billion semiconductor subsidy program, he said during his Congress speech late Tuesday.
"Your Chips Act is a horrible, horrible thing." he said, urging US House Speaker Mike Johnson to repeal the bill and utilize "whatever is left over" to "reduce debt or any other reason."
The Chips Act is considered one of the most major US excursions into industrial policy in almost a decade.
It allocated $39 billion in grants, loans, and 25% tax cuts to boost American semiconductor production, as well as $13 billion for chip research and development.
The goal of the act was to minimize reliance on Asia for electrical components, which power everything from cell phones to large data centers.
Trump, on the other hand, has frequently criticized the program he sees as a waste of government cash, claiming that tariffs would achieve the same result while increasing revenue.
Preferring tariffs over incentives, Trump has hinted that import duties on chips might be implemented as early as next month and said that companies may escape these charges by relocating factories on American territory, according to Bloomberg.
On Monday, Trump announced that the world's biggest semiconductor manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will invest $100 billion in the US to construct sophisticated chipmaking facilities in the state of Arizona, on top of a prior $65 billion promise.
In his presentation on Tuesday, he stated that the project's total cost reached $165 billion. "We're not giving them any money," Trump said. "All that was important to them was they didn't want to pay the tariffs."
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