Washington, March 8 US President Donald Trump has mentioned Taiwan and South Korea, as he argued that the United States lost semiconductor business to foreign countries.
During a press availability at the White House, Trump also renewed his criticism of the CHIPS and Science Act, calling it a "tremendous waste of money." The act was signed by his predecessor Joe Biden in 2022 to boost domestic chip manufacturing through incentives.
"We gradually lost the chip business, and now it's almost exclusively in Taiwan. They stole it from us. They took it from us," he said, underscoring that the business was once dominated by an American entrepreneur -- the late Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, reports Yonhap news agency.
He added, "We had the chip business, and now it's all in Taiwan, almost exclusive ... a little in South Korea, but mostly in Taiwan."
The president took a swipe at former presidents who he said allowed the loss of the crucial business to happen.
"I don't blame (Taiwan). I give them credit. I blame the people that were sitting in this seat," he said, "We could have protected that so easily."
His remarks came although Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has agreed to invest US$100 billion to build advanced chip producing facilities in the United States. The plan is in addition to the Taiwanese tech titan's current $65 billion investment in Arizona.
Trump doubled down on his denunciation of the CHIPS Act. During a congressional address on Tuesday, Trump called for the removal of the act.
"It's hundreds of billions of dollars, and it's just a waste of money," he said.
He claimed that it is hard to qualify to receive subsidies under the act.
"Because they go by race, they go by gender, they go by all sorts of things. Nobody's ever seen anything like it," he said.
He went on to say that although he did not give foreign companies "10 cents," they came "because of tariffs."
"Because they didn't want to pay the tariffs. And they also came because they like the results of the election, because they know that I'm very pro-business and pro-jobs."
Trump's remark on the CHIPS Act has drawn keen attention in South Korea, as under the act, the previous Biden administration agreed to provide grants to two South Korean tech firms, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix, to support their chipmaking investments in the U.S.
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