The United States will award Taiwanese chip giant TSMC up to $6.6 billion in direct funding to help build several plants on US soil, officials said Friday, finalizing the deal before Donald Trump's administration enters the White House. "Today's final agreement with TSMC –- the world's leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductors –- will spur $65 billion dollars of private investment to build three state-of-the-art facilities in Arizona," said President Joe Biden in a statement.
The Biden administration's announcement comes around two months before President-elect Trump takes office. Trump has recently criticized the CHIPS Act, a major law passed during Biden's tenure aimed at strengthening the US semiconductor industry and reducing the country's reliance on Asian suppliers, including Taiwan. While the US government has unveiled over $36 billion in grants through this act, including the award to TSMC, much of the funds remain in the due diligence phase and have not been disbursed.
But once a deal is finalized, funds can start flowing to companies that have hit certain milestones. TSMC is the second company after Polar Semiconductor to finalize its agreement. "Currently, the United States does not make on our shores any leading-edge chips, and this is the first time ever that we'll be able to say we will be making these leading-edge chips in the United States," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters Thursday.
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