TSMC Japan plan for advanced chips seen as hedge against pressure from US, China
The expanded Japan presence will ensure that some of TSMC’s production is immune from Trump’s on-again, off-again import tariffs
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s plan for advanced chip production at a Japanese plant will help it hedge against US tariff threats and the possibility of a Beijing blockade around Taiwan, analysts said, while providing Japanese giants such as Sony and Toyota with local access to advanced chips for artificial intelligence applications.
The Kumamoto plant would help TSMC diversify production to avoid geopolitical pressures, experts said.
The expanded Japan presence would ensure that some of the foundry’s chip production remained immune from US President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again import tariffs, and would reduce the impact of any possible blockade by mainland China around Taiwan, where most of TSMC’s wafer fabs are located, analysts said.
“The strategic importance of the so-called silicon shield – that advanced technology is an insurance against abandonment by the US – is not to be surrendered easily, even under the tariff threat,” said Yoichiro Sato, dean of the College of Asia-Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia-Pacific University in Japan.