Biden & Trump Are Rumored To Attend TSMC's Arizona Facility Opening In December; Past & Future of US Semiconductors In One Place

Biden and Donald Trump, the current and subsequent US presidents, will reportedly attend TSMC's Arizona facility opening, as both policymakers are eyeing taking the US semiconductor industry to new heights.

The progress of the US semiconductor industry has now taken more of a "political turn," where policymakers are focused on how their decisions can help promote domestic production, ultimately molding it into a political achievement. Now, in a new report by DigiTimes, it is being claimed that Biden and Trump are expected to be seen together for the first time publicly at TSMC's Arizona facility inauguration, which is a by-product of the investment brought in by the CHIPS Act, an initiative which is seen as a controversial one in terms of remarks given by Donald Trump, who calls it a "bad" step.

While the report doesn't confirm this development, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs claims that the opening of the TSMC Arizona facility will be a "massive" one, implying that it will likely include high-profile individuals. Given that Donald Trump is slated to be the next US president and Biden is eventually leaving the White House, it only makes sense for both of them to be a part of a historic achievement for the US and its chip ambitions.

TSMC Arizona is one of the biggest milestones of the Biden administration when it comes to bringing semiconductor production to home grounds, given that the country has witnessed gigantic demand for cutting-edge chips, notably from Apple and NVIDIA. Instead of outsourcing semiconductors from the likes of Taiwan, the US is focused on domestic production, which will ultimately fuel industrialization and reduce its dependency on other nations.

TSMC's ceremony is expected to occur in the first week of December 2024, with mass-production going by the first half of next year. The facility was initially said to be responsible for 5nm and 4nm production, and the Taiwan giant has expressed intentions to establish 2nm production lines as well, which means that TSMC's US facilities will be on par with what the firm offers in Taiwan, except for the fact that Taiwanese fabs will have access to cutting-edge nodes earlier.

Donald Trump has claimed that Taiwan is "stealing" US semiconductor technology and that it should be stopped. So it will be interesting to see how the US administration, under the newly elected president, molds the direction under which the industry is moving. By the looks of it, TSMC won't get the same "exclusive" treatment.