Taiwanese artificial intelligence (AI) server makers are expected to make major investments in Texas in May after US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and amid his rising tariff threats, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA, 台灣電子電機公會) chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) said yesterday.
The association led a delegation of seven AI server manufacturers to Washington, as well as the US states of California, Texas and New Mexico, to discuss land and tax issues, as Taiwanese firms speed up their production plans in the US with many of them seeing Texas as their top option for investment, Lee said.
The association is one of Taiwan’s major industrial groups, representing more than 3,000 companies in fields ranging from semiconductors to communications, information technology and household electronics.
Photo: CNA
Lee, former chairman of contract electronics and AI server manufacturer Inventec Corp (英業達), said that Trump’s return to the White House has accelerated the pace of supply chain relocation to the US.
He added that in May, Taiwan’s large AI server foundry would announce an expansion of its investment in Texas.
“Around May, more than one AI server manufacturer will announce new investment in Texas,” the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Lee as saying at a business seminar in Taipei.
Investments by Taiwan’s information and communications technology industry in the US are far lower than their market share there, he said, urging Taiwanese firms to make significant investments in the US this year to allow the Trump administration to reposition Taiwan’s ambition and enthusiasm for cooperation with the US.
Taiwanese firms had invested in Texas in the past 20 to 30 years, but the supply chain has gradually shifted production to Mexico due to customers’ cost considerations, Lee said, adding that some firms have considered returning to Texas.
During a visit to Taiwan in July last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the opening of a state trade office in Taipei and signed an Economic Development Statement of Intent with Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) to boost economic ties with Taiwan.
Lee said that he and his TEEMA colleagues visited Texas on Monday last week and met with Abbott, while five large member companies that went on the trip also discussed relocating AI server production to Texas.
“However, Taiwanese ODM [original design manufacturing] companies account for 90 percent of global server production, but fewer than 15 percent of servers are produced in North America. In other words, about 80 percent of servers are still produced outside the US and Mexico,” the CNA quoted Lee as saying.
In response to Trump’s threat to impose additional tariffs on Mexico and other countries, Lee said that advanced servers and products with greater national security considerations would be produced in the US first.
At the same time, firms would also accelerate their pace for production in the US, he said.
To highlight the strategic cooperation and mutual interest between the two countries, TEEMA is proposing more trips to the US and plans to hold three forums in California, he said.
It would also hold an AI forum in collaboration with major US cloud service providers and technology start-ups, as well as expand its participation in the SelectUSA Summit, an annual event sponsored by the US Department of Commerce, he added.
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