President Donald Trump predicted Monday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) $100 billion investment in the United States would create 20,000-25,000 jobs.
Trump gave the estimate while fielding questions at a press conference where he announced the investment alongside TSMC Chief Executive C.C. Wei, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks.
“You’re probably talking about 20-25,000 jobs, but it’ll get bigger and bigger with time. Knowing this gentleman, it’ll get bigger and bigger. There’ll be no stopping him,” Trump laughed, referring to Wei.
The president lauded Wei earlier in the press conference as a “legend” in the worlds of business and semiconductors.
The investment, which will be at least $100 billion, includes the construction of five semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Arizona, Trump said.
“The most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America, and it’ll be a big percentage of the chips made by his company, but as you know, they’re based mostly in Taiwan,” Trump noted.
Lutnick said that tariffs help incentivize investment, emphasizing that TSMC can come to the United States “because they can avoid paying tariffs.”
“So the idea is, come to America. Build greatness in America. Build for the American customers,” Lutnick added.
Wei expressed his gratitude to Trump and to some of the company’s major customers like Apple and Nvidida, who he said helped make the investment possible.
This is just the latest in a string of major investments into the United States that Trump has secured since taking office. In late February, Apple announced its plan to invest half a trillion dollars in the U.S. over the next four years.
On his second day in office, Trump revealed another $500 billion investment, standing alongside Oracle Board Chair and CTO Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the White House. The executives, through a joint endeavor called Stargate, are investing 500 billion in U.S. AI infrastructure.
