Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said it is “not afraid” of losing Washington’s subsidies for its massive US investments, as the chief of the world’s largest chipmaker sought to reassure investors following US President Donald Trump’s call to kill the $52bn chips act. “Even if we don’t get any subsidies at all, we are not afraid of that,” TSMC chair and chief executive CC Wei said on Thursday at a joint press conference with Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te. “Honestly, I only demand fairness. We are not afraid to compete,” he added. His comments come just days after TSMC pledged an additional $100bn investment in the US, boosting capacity in the country in a move designed to placate Trump and head off threatened tariffs on chip imports.A day later, Trump called on Congress to eliminate the US Chips Act, under which the Biden administration agreed to support TSMC’s previously pledged $65bn investments with $6.6bn in public funds.In his Tuesday night State of the Union address, Trump said about TSMC that “all that was important to them was they didn’t want to pay the tariffs”. He added: “So they came and they’re building . . . We don’t have to give them money”On Thursday, the TSMC chief evaded the question whether the company had received a guarantee from Trump that the subsidies would remain in place in exchange for its additional commitment. He added that TSMC’s “grand alliance” with all other parts of the chip supply chain and its single-minded focus on the needs of its customers, rather than government support, were the reasons that it surpassed its rivals.The joint press conference with Taiwan’s president was aimed at allaying fears that TSMC’s additional US investments would undermine the company’s commitment to Taiwan.Back home, TSMC is widely referred to as the “sacred mountain that protects the nation”, reflecting the belief that other democracies will be more willing to defend Taiwan against a potential Chinese attack as long as they remain highly dependent on chip supplies from the country. TSMC produces more than 90 per cent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors.So far all of those are made in fabrication plants, or fabs, in its home country, but it plans to start offering the most advanced process technology in the US from 2028.Under the new deal announced with Trump on Monday, the company has sharply increased its capacity expansion plans for the US and even pledged to set up a research and development unit there, which it previously resisted.In contrast to competitors Samsung and Intel, TSMC only manufactures chips to the designs of other companies. This model has enabled other chipmakers to exit manufacturing and focus on design, in turn giving TSMC a continuously growing market share.Wei said TSMC’s new US investment would not come at the expense of its home country. The company is building 11 new fabs in Taiwan, compared with five new factories over the next four years promised to Trump. The TSMC chief clarified that the R&D unit in the US would be focused on improving process technology that has already entered production. The “real R&D” of developing next-generation manufacturing technology would remain at the global R&D centre in Taiwan, 10 times the size of the US unit with 10,000 engineers.
