US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan’s semiconductor exports to the US to encourage chip manufacturers to move their production facilities to the US, but experts are questioning his strategy, warning it could harm industries on both sides.
“I’m very confused and surprised that the Trump administration would try and do this,” Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst and founder of TECHnalysis Research in California, said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Wednesday.
“It seems to reflect the fact that they don’t understand how the semiconductor industry really works,” O’Donnell said.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, AFP
Economic sanctions would not boost chip manufacturing in the US overnight, because building a chip fab requires billions of dollars and many years of construction, he said.
He described Trump’s economic policies as “shortsighted,” adding that they would not diminish Taiwan’s leading position in advanced chip manufacturing, but rather would drive up the cost of chips made in Taiwan.
“It will have a huge negative impact on every tech-related industry,” O’Donnell said.
The proposed tariffs would harm Taiwanese chipmakers, as well as US tech companies that depend heavily on their chip supplies, including Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc, he said.
Brian Peck, a former official at the Office of the US Trade Representative, told CNA in a separate interview that the US tech industry, which relies on Taiwanese chips, would face higher prices in the short term.
Those increased costs ultimately would be passed on to American consumers, said Peck, who is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
In the long term, tariffs would put pressure on Taiwan’s semiconductor producers, he said in an interview.
Suppliers of semiconductors based in Taiwan would probably face a decline in sales, because US companies “would be forced either to move manufacturing to the US or find other suppliers that are not subject to the same level of tariffs,” Peck said.
Trump is likely to follow through on the tariff threats, if his goal is to bring chipmaking back to the US, but the US president’s actions have been “somewhat unpredictable,” he said.
Trump might be using the tariff issue as leverage to push Taipei to increase defense spending or make other concessions, as seen in his dealings with Mexico and Canada, Peck said.
In that case, “I think, those would be some of the issues that need to be discussed and worked out” between Taiwan and the US, he said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
RSS