Poll: Half of Taiwan fears TSMC becoming US-SMC

[user nl]

Experts say the Trump-era push for onshore manufacturing reshaped TSMC’s strategy, while its core R&D and cutting-edge nodes remain in Taiwan.​

by Emre Çıtak September 23, 2025 in Tech

A recent poll indicates half of Taiwanese respondents believe Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is becoming a U.S.-focused entity following substantial investments in the United States, a move initiated under pressure from the Trump administration.

Concerns in Taiwan regarding the company’s trajectory have grown since TSMC committed to investments reported to be in the “hundreds of billions” of dollars to establish major operations on U.S. soil. The perception of the company shifting away from its home base was intensified by earlier rumors that the United States government was considering acquiring a stake in TSMC. A poll conducted by the newspaper UDN has now quantified this sentiment, revealing that 50% of the Taiwanese public surveyed is concerned about TSMC evolving into what is being called “TSMC of the United States” or “US-SMC.” The publication noted that some scholars and experts believe this transformation may already be underway, stating that the strategic deployment by the U.S. toward the chipmaker has presented challenges to Taiwan’s domestic semiconductor industry.

Academics have weighed in on the strategic motivations behind the U.S. push. A professor at National Chengchi University, a prominent political science school in Taiwan, stated that the Trump administration’s objective is to have TSMC produce not only cutting-edge nodes but also advanced packaging technologies within the United States. This expert also articulated that TSMC’s presence is a key national asset that significantly elevates Taiwan’s geopolitical importance to the U.S., particularly in the context of evolving relations between Taiwan and China. The professor suggested that without the chip giant’s critical role, Taiwan’s strategic value to the United States would be dramatically reduced. The shift of some operations to the U.S. is seen as part of a larger strategic aspiration beyond immediate geopolitical concerns.

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Elena is the MD of Dataconomy, one of the top 10 AI magazines & educational platforms in the world with 1.5 million readers a month, and the founder of Data Natives, Europe’s largest data science & AI conference, taking place annually in Berlin. Elena is an advocate of data privacy and AI ethics, has served in expert groups at the EU level, worked for the EIC (European Innovation Council), and has been speaking at conferences regularly on these topics. She mentors startups for Vision Health Pioneers, tech2impact, African Tech Vision, Applied Data Incubator, WeWork Labs, and others.

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https://dataconomy.com/2025/09/23/poll-half-of-taiwan-fears-tsmc-becoming-us-smc/

Original source:
2025-09-22 00:00 United Daily News/Reporter Lan Junda/Taipei Report
https://udn.com/news/story/8625/9020144

 

[Fred Chen]

Continuing from the same article:

The move is also heavily influenced by commercial and economic factors. TSMC’s most significant clients are predominantly American technology companies, including NVIDIA, Apple, Broadcom, and AMD, all of which rely on sourcing the most advanced semiconductor nodes available. The Trump administration prioritized the reshoring of manufacturing to the U.S. and utilized trade policy as a form of leverage. This created a powerful incentive for technology companies and their suppliers to invest in U.S. facilities to secure government support and mitigate the risk of substantial tariffs. TSMC’s expansion of its U.S. operations is considered a necessary part of this broader industrial shift from East to West.

Despite the expansion in the U.S. and the resulting public perception in Taiwan, the core of TSMC’s technological and research capabilities remains based on the island. The company continues to conduct its primary research and development for its most advanced technologies, such as the upcoming N2 node, within Taiwan. The majority of the firm’s top engineering talent is also located in Taiwan, ensuring that critical intellectual property and semiconductor “recipes” are developed and retained domestically. Furthermore, high-end manufacturing for the most advanced nodes currently occurs exclusively in TSMC’s fabs in Taiwan, not in its overseas facilities. This indicates that while the company has diversified its global footprint with a clear inclination toward the U.S., it has maintained its foundational technology and innovation hub in its home country.

 

[user nl]

Continuing from the same article:

.........................................This indicates that while the company has diversified its global footprint with a clear inclination toward the U.S., it has maintained its foundational technology and innovation hub in its home country.

I know for internal TSMC/Taiwan consumption those stories are important, but for transactional-coercive Trump&Co it only counts how well they can squeeze you into their prefered dependent-bullied coercion corner......

 

[Fred Chen]

Be careful what you disclose to Trump&Co.........best is to stay below their coercion-sniffing radar........

I know for internal TSMC consumption those stories are important, but for transactional-coercive Trump&Co it only counts how well they can squeeze you into their prefered dependent-bullied coercion corner......

It's already a big task to manage TSMC's IP based in Taiwan: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-...age-trade-secrets-its-lawyer-says-2025-08-29/

 

[samwilde]

Each of the TSMC US fabs can only make like 50k WPM last I read. They won't replace Taiwan. It is basically insurance.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

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Experts say the Trump-era push for onshore manufacturing reshaped TSMC’s strategy, while its core R&D and cutting-edge nodes remain in Taiwan.​

"Experts say" Complete BS.

"stated that the Trump administration’s objective is to have TSMC produce not only cutting-edge nodes but also advanced packaging technologies within the United States."

A political *expert* Trump will be lucky to serve his entire term (health issues) and there will never be another Trump so TSMC just has to get through another 3 years which in our industry is not a lot of time. It takes 3+ years to build a US fab, right?

Well, I did a poll myself and I am also an *expert*. The majority of US customers would like products with US content. Products made in the US to support our economy and jobs. That is what is pressuring companies to make products in the US. Those companies are pressuring suppliers and here we are. Today it is just a box check "yes we buy US made wafers". Unfortunately TSMC AZ has a very small capacity in comparison to TSMC total monthly wafer count so it cannot serve one of the big fabless customers much less 5 of them. I do not see that changing based on TSMC's fab build strategy.

In my opinion Trump has much more important things to do than micro manage the semiconductor industry. And again, once he is gone we will have a whole new set of political problems. The lesson I have learned is that we have a set of semiconductor CEOs that have given us a master class in leadership, Jensen Huang, Lip-Bu Tan, CC Wei, Hock Tan, Rick Tsai, and Lisa Su for example. That is what inspires me to stay engaged and focus on the greater good of the semiconductor industry, absolutely.

 

[user nl]

"Experts say" Complete BS.

"stated that the Trump administration’s objective is to have TSMC produce not only cutting-edge nodes but also advanced packaging technologies within the United States."

A political *expert* Trump will be lucky to serve his entire term (health issues) and there will never be another Trump so TSMC just has to get through another 3 years which in our industry is not a lot of time. It takes 3+ years to build a US fab, right?

Well, I did a poll myself and I am also an *expert*. The majority of US customers would like products with US content. Products made in the US to support our economy and jobs. That is what is pressuring companies to make products in the US. Those companies are pressuring suppliers and here we are. Today it is just a box check "yes we buy US made wafers". Unfortunately TSMC AZ has a very small capacity in comparison to TSMC total monthly wafer count so it cannot serve one of the big fabless customers much less 5 of them. I do not see that changing based on TSMC's fab build strategy.

In my opinion Trump has much more important things to do than micro manage the semiconductor industry. And again, once he is gone we will have a whole new set of political problems. The lesson I have learned is that we have a set of semiconductor CEOs that have given us a master class in leadership, Jensen Huang, Lip-Bu Tan, CC Wei, Hock Tan, and Lisa Su for example. That is what inspires me to stay engaged and focus on the greater good of the semiconductor industry, absolutely.

Perhaps, but some say hope is not sufficient for a strategy. I think CC Wei & Co may have a strategy.......Not clear to me that INTEL's LBT has a good and clearly communicated strategy (yet) besides putting out the fire in his house.......

 

[user nl]

Seems Korea (Samsung) is following more of Taiwan's and EU's strategy:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-korea-cannot-pay-350-131826595.html

EU:
https://www.epc.eu/publication/what-do-we-want-investment-now/

Perhaps the Western world outside the USA is finally synchronizing more of their strategies against Trump&Co's coercion tariffs.......

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Perhaps, but some say hope is not sufficient for a strategy. I think CC Wei & Co may have a strategy.......Not clear to me that INTEL's LBT has a good and clearly communicated strategy (yet).......

CC Wei definitely has a strategy. The man is extremely intelligent and knows the semiconductor industry from the inside out. He is also very close to his top customers, especially Nvidia and AMD who's CEOs are both Taiwanese. He was one of the first CEOs to meet with Trump and "announce" many billions of dollars of investment in the US. Like other announced investments, it sounds like a lot of money but it was not a binding agreement nor was a specific timeline agreed to. Anything outside of Trump's term is not bankable, not even close.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Seems Korea (Samsung) is following more of Taiwan's strategy:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-korea-cannot-pay-350-131826595.html

Tariffs are another topic completely. In my *expert* opinion the tariffs are a bullying move for political capital here in the US. Will they matter financially for the US? Will it even make a dent in the $37.47 trillion national debt? Not even close. The good news is that when we get a new administration we can go back to our allies and change the dynamics. We will have only geopolitical upside after Trump.

We will however have more manufacturing in the US which is a very good thing and I hope that continues. That is one thing that a new administration will have to be supportive of because we will probably have double digit unemployment by then. The economy is what gets new administrations elected. Right now the American dream is unreachable for most. That has got to change.

 

[Markwrob]

there will never be another Trump

The djini is out of the bottle, and won't be put back in. Meaning, now that it's shown possible to get someone like him elected POTUS, there will be others to follow. The really big moneyed types will continue to look for stooges and golems to prop up there.

It's doable because so much of the populace don't care enough to vote. And the puppet masters are busy disenfranchising those most likely to vote their candidates down.

 

[user nl]

The good news is that when we get a new administration we can go back to our allies and change the dynamics. We will have only geopolitical upside after Trump.
............

The future will tell what happens after Trump is gone, still 39 months to go, quite an eternity in US politics.

Breaking down stuff is rather easy for ideological people. Going around with a sledge hammer (or chainsaw, you pick your prefered tool) through your society's rule-based fabric, can destroy a lot in a short time like 48 months.......One of those things being destroyed seems trust in your own fellow country men, for quite some years already, pre-Trump-1, say after the US' response to 9/11 I would say. The kind of hybrid civil war that is being prosecuted by the current administration, and sanctioned by the US-house and senate, doesn't bode well for the next 13 months till the midterms.....

Regarding your outside allies, Trust Arrives on Foot and Leaves on Horseback, ask the UK regarding their post Brexit-vote years.......picking up those shattered pieces and restoring mutual trust takes time. With regards to the UK & EU, nothing speeds up this process of picking up the shattered pieces more than an external existential threat like the current (real and hybrid) war being prosecuted by Russia in Europe....

 

[Daniel Nenni]

The djini is out of the bottle, and won't be put back in. Meaning, now that it's shown possible to get someone like him elected POTUS, there will be others to follow. The really big moneyed types will continue to look for stooges and golems to prop up there.

It's doable because so much of the populace don't care enough to vote. And the puppet masters are busy disenfranchising those most likely to vote their candidates down.

I remember the first time Trump ran for the GOP nomination. His political foes tried to emulate him after a while and failed. Those same foes now work for him (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, etc...).

Take a close look at Trumps behavior, background, finances, etc... There will never be another one like him, no way. Twitter banned him so he created his own site Truth Social which will probably go out of business after his term.

Trump will definitely be one of the most entertaining presidents during my lifetime. Ronald Reagan being a close second. That man was funny!

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Regarding your outside allies, Trust Arrives on Foot and Leaves on Horseback, ask the UK regarding their post Brexit-vote years.......picking up those shattered pieces and restoring mutual trust takes time. With regards to the UK & EU, nothing speeds up this process of picking up the shattered pieces more than an external existential threat like the war in Europe....

War unites allies for sure and there will be more wars without a doubt. War also fuels the economy. Cutting off semiconductors is an act of war in my opinion. Semiconductors are that important like oil or other natural resources we have gone to war over. There could certainly be a war over Taiwan's independence and the Silicon Shield is all about TSMC.