US EditionTaiwan Won’t Agree to 50-50 Chip Split
Taiwan rejects a US plan to split semiconductor manufacturing equally, focusing instead on tariff reductions and maintaining its dominant production role, with TSMC investing $165 billion in US plants.
- On October 1, 2025, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said Taiwan `will not agree` to a 50-50 chip split, and the idea was not discussed, she told reporters.
- The U.S. administration, pursuing onshoring goals, argued Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, pitched a 50-50 split and aims for 40%–50% market share amid a Section 232 investigation and White House provisional 20% tariff.
- Taiwan's outsized share of advanced-chip production means Taiwan produces more than half the world's semiconductors, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. invests $165 billion in Arizona but keeps most production in Taiwan.
- As a result, negotiations remain unresolved and Taipei is struggling to finalize a tariff deal with Washington, focusing on lowering levies while pledging more U.S. investment and defense spending above 3% of GDP.
- Looking ahead, analysts caution the deadlock could accelerate U.S. incentives for Intel and Samsung while TSMC expands in Japan and Germany amid five pressures, Digitimes analyses warn.
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The Trump administration further insisted, during negotiations on Wednesday, October 1st, to share at 50-50 the production of electronic chips between the United States and the archipelago. This would weaken the industry, "shield" for the Asian state.
Taiwan pushes trade talks with US while safeguarding chip base
Taiwan is considering forming a high-tech strategic partnership with the US, which wants increased Taiwanese investment, the island's top tariff negotiator said on Thursday, giving an update on talks with Washington. Taiwan, home to the world's biggest contract chipmaker TSMC 2330.TW, runs a large trade surplus with the United States. The island's exports to the US are currently subject to a 20% tariff, a figure Taipei's government is seeking to…
Taiwan Won’t Agree to 50-50 Chip Split
“Taiwan has sought to ease public fears that its prized chip industry could be hollowed out following US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s call for semiconductor manufacturing to be evenly divided between the island and the United States,” the South China Morning Post reports. “Taiwanese Vice-Premier Cheng Li-chun said on Thursday that Taiwan’s negotiating team had never promised Washington to evenly split chip production.”
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