Taipei, Jan 24, 2026, 03:22 (GMT+8)
- Lai Ching-te told Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego Taiwan wants more chipmaking and R&D in the Phoenix area.
- The push comes after a new Taiwan-U.S. deal cutting tariffs to 15% and setting $500 billion in investment and credit pledges.
- Lai also urged swift action on double-tax relief and warned against China’s “red lines,” according to Taiwanese media reports.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego on Friday he expects more chip investment in the Phoenix area, building on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s $165 billion plan in the state. Reuters
Taipei is leaning hard on its chip industry to keep U.S. ties moving under President Donald Trump, who has pushed Taiwan to shift more chipmaking to the United States, especially for artificial intelligence hardware. Gallego’s trip was Lai’s first in-person meeting with a U.S. lawmaker since the two sides reached a tariff-cut deal last week.
That agreement would cut U.S. tariffs on Taiwan’s exports to 15% from 20%. It also set out $250 billion in planned investment by Taiwanese companies in U.S. production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence, with Taiwan offering a further $250 billion in credit guarantees.
Lai called TSMC’s Arizona build-out a success story of industrial cooperation and said he hoped “even more” chip manufacturing and research work would “spring up” around greater Phoenix. He cast it as the next step in a broader relationship, not a single project fenced off in the desert.
Gallego said Arizona has become “the envy of other states” because of the flow of Taiwanese money, especially from TSMC. “The amount of investment … is impressive,” he told Lai, and said he wanted to see it keep growing.
TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker — it makes chips to order for companies that design their own processors. The Arizona expansion aims to produce advanced semiconductors used in data centres and other systems powering the AI boom, an area Washington increasingly treats as strategic.
But the new trade terms have stirred political unease in Taipei, and opposition lawmakers have questioned what Taiwan gives up as U.S. officials press for more factories and jobs. TaiwanPlus cited U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as saying he wanted 40% of Taiwan’s chipmaking operations moved to the United States. Taiwanplus
Gallego said he wanted the investment to run both ways and pointed to Arizona firms starting operations in Taiwan, including in drones. TaiwanPlus said new direct flights now link Phoenix and Taipei, and that Taiwan plans to set up a government office in Arizona, as officials on both sides look for more concrete links.
Lai also urged other countries not to let China draw unilateral “red lines” that he said undermine regional stability, Focus Taiwan reported. He called for quick progress on Taiwan-U.S. double-tax relief — rules that would stop companies being taxed twice on the same income — and Gallego backed the push as a “win-win” issue, the outlet said. Focustaiwan
The United States is Taiwan’s most important backer and arms supplier, even without formal diplomatic ties, while Beijing claims the democratically governed island as its own. Lai said China has stepped up military activity and pressure tactics around Taiwan, and he pledged to keep strengthening the island’s defences.
