Taiwan President Lai Ching-te stated that he would communicate more with the United States over President Donald Trump’s concerns about the chip industry and invest more in the United States.
In response to President Trump’s latest actions, Taiwan needs to respond calmly, and communicate well with the industries. We hope to create a win-win scenario, not just to ensure benefit to the US but also to ensure that Taiwan‘s industries has room from growth.
The Taiwanese leader’s statement came hours after Trump ordered reciprocal tariffs on trading partners. The US leader said on Thursday that the self-governing island had taken away chip manufacturing business from the US, which should be returned to the country.
Taiwan’s TSMC is the world’s largest chip maker and produces components for companies such as Apple, Intel and Nvidia. Lai spoke about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and how the global semiconductor industry is part of an “ecosystem” in which countries specialise in different areas.
The global semiconductor industry is an ecosystem, and it’s a division of work.
The US does not recognise Taiwan as a country but is its strongest patron and largest arms supplier. Lai said his government would propose a “global semiconductor democratic supply chain partnership initiative.”
Over the past two years, Lai said, more than 40 per cent of Taiwan’s overseas investment has been linked to the United States, more than investment in China. He also said on Friday he would propose a “special budget” to increase defence spending to more than 3 percent of Taiwan’s GDP.
