USA: Taiwanese TSMC to build another semiconductor factory in Arizona

The Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC will build a third semiconductor factory in the city of Phoenix, a project that will total the company’s investment in the state of Arizona at US$65 billion, the president reported this Monday Joe Biden.

In a statement released by the White House, Biden stated that the Department of Commerce has signed a “preliminary agreement” with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the construction of “state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facilities”.

“Thanks to this investment, TSMC will also build a third chip factory in Phoenix, increasing its total investment in Arizona to $65 billion and creating more than 25,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs, along with thousands of indirect jobs“, notes the statement.

This plan is part of the US government’s goal of producing 20% ​​of the world’s semiconductors by 2030, one of the goals of the CHIPS and Science Act that the Democrat government approved last year.

The announcement comes during the visit of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Janet Yellen, to Beijing, where this Monday she met with the president of the People’s Bank of China (Central Bank), Pan Gongshengto whom he highlighted ““the importance of the world’s two largest economies working together to promote financial stability.”

During her stay, the US representative has held meetings with other senior Chinese officials such as the prime minister, Li Qiangand the deputy prime minister in charge of economic policy, He Lifeng.

The Taiwanese issue continues to be one of the main points of friction between China and the United States, which, apart from being Taiwan’s main arms supplier, could find itself in the position of having to defend the island in the event of conflict.

The journey of Yellen followed last Monday’s conversation between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a phone call in which they discussed Taiwan, technology and fentanyl.

Last December, both countries resumed high-level military dialogue, suspended by China after then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, a trip that angered Chinese authorities.

Xi and Biden agreed to resume military talks during their meeting last November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco (United States).

Taiwan – where the Chinese Nationalist Army withdrew after defeat by communist troops in the civil war – has been governed autonomously since 1949, although China He claims sovereignty over the island, which he considers a rebellious province for whose ‘reunification’ he has not ruled out the use of force.