TSMC to invest $100bn in US manufacturing in attempt to ward off tariffs

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter:

• TSMC’s overture to Trump

• China’s $1 bubble tea chain soars in Hong Kong debt

• How big is the stock market’s America bubble?

US President Donald Trump has said that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is to invest $100bn in advanced manufacturing in the US as the world’s biggest chipmaker tries to ward off possible tariffs on chips from Taiwan.

The investment was announced yesterday when chief executive CC Wei met Trump at the White House.

The move is the latest overture by business to Trump, as companies announce measures to placate the president amid his aggressive push to impose levies on US trading partners.

TSMC has already committed $65bn to build fabrication facilities in Arizona. It was not clear if the $100bn investment was a separate funding commitment or included some of the money previously pledged.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on imports of chips, which would have a dramatic impact on Taiwan’s economy. Pressure has been building on TSMC for months following the president’s repeated accusations that Taiwan “stole” the US semiconductor business.

Read more about the measures Taipei has considered to appease Trump.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Japan publishes the February consumer confidence survey and January labour force survey.

• Australia monetary policy: Reserve Bank board monetary policy meeting minutes published

• China’s ‘two sessions’: The country’s top political advisory body, known as the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, will start its annual meeting today, followed by the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, tomorrow.

Five more top stories

1. Singapore has charged three men in a case believed to involve Nvidia semiconductor sales that potentially breach US export controls, the government announced yesterday. Two Singaporeans and one Chinese national were among nine people arrested last Wednesday as part of raids on 22 locations across the city-state. Here’s what we know about the case.

2. Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings is finalising plans to replace current president and chief executive Ryuichi Isaka with its first foreign boss, according to people familiar with the matter. Stephen Dacus, lead independent director and head of the company’s special committee responsible for evaluating a $47bn takeover approach from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, is likely to take the top job at the 7-Eleven owner.

3. Chinese bubble tea giant Mixue’s shares surged 43 per cent on their debut yesterday in Hong Kong’s biggest listing of the year to date. Well known in China for its distinctive snowman mascot and cheap products, the company debuted in the Chinese territory just as mainland consumers adjust to an era of slower economic growth.

4. Donald Trump renewed his public attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday as the fallout from Friday’s White House confrontation intensified further. The US president also suggested that a weekend of intense European diplomacy, including a summit in London hosted by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, had failed to improve Kyiv’s standing.

• European defence: Europe’s defence sector extended a blistering rally yesterday and the euro surged as investors raised their bets that governments across the continent will have to boost military spending.

5. Four-year-old artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic has raised $3.5bn in a deal that triples its valuation to more than $60bn, as it aims to keep pace with OpenAI and ahead of newer rivals such as China’s DeepSeek. The funding round suggests that investors remain bullish about the potential for heavily lossmaking AI start-ups to continue their rapid growth.

News in-depth

How big is the stock market’s America bubble? US stocks’ huge surge since the global financial crisis means they account for almost two-thirds of the world’s investable market, driven in recent years by the artificial intelligence boom. But a recent pullback in tech shares has underlined the growing nervousness around soaring valuations in a market that has swallowed an ever-larger share of global investors’ allocations.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Surveillance and paranoia in South Korea: In a nation haunted by a repressive past and threats from North Korea, Lee Chang-dong’s tales fuse the personal with an inescapable politics.

• Nuclear energy: Countries want to squeeze more electricity from ageing power plants to help meet global demand, but the strategy has its own challenges.

• Premier League: Richard Masters, chief executive of the world’s most-watched football league, speaks to the FT on keeping the peace between its 20 ultra-competitive clubs.

Chart of the day

China’s top political advisory body will consider a proposal to lower the country’s marriage age to help reverse falling birth rates this week. The country’s population fell for the first time in six decades in 2022 and has declined each year since.

Take a break from the news . . . 

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