TSMC aircraft carrier goes to sea! Gong Mingxin: Raising 130 billion yuan to build Texas AI supply chain park

Taiwan will raise US$4 billion to help TSMC suppliers set up factories in Texas, the United States.

Bloomberg reported on the 16th that Taiwan plans to raise billions of dollars to build an industrial park in the United States to establish a complete supply chain base for Huida and other artificial intelligence (AI) hardware manufacturers.

Taiwan's Economic Minister Gong Mingxin said in an interview that the plan will start with the construction of a park in Texas at a cost of US$4 billion (NT$129.57 billion). He said the industrial park will assist suppliers critical to the operations of TSMC, Hon Hai and others to set up factories in the United States. TSMC is Huida's main production partner, while Hon Hai is the AI ​​server assembly plant.

In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg on the 12th of this month, Gong Mingxin said that the construction cost of each park is between US$2 billion and US$4 billion, and the Taiwan government plans to build "more than one" park in the United States. The Taiwanese government is cooperating with the Taiwan Electrical and Electronics Industries Association (TEEMA), which is responsible for raising funds for the development of the park.

He said, "We will establish a long-term and sustainable supply chain, in which not only Taiwanese companies, but also American companies and local workers can participate."

According to the report, companies such as TSMC, Hon Hai and Wistron provide key hardware for data centers and are also critical to the success of US AI chip manufacturers Feida and Advanced Micro Devices, as well as cloud service providers Meta and Microsoft. These Taiwanese manufacturing giants in turn rely on lesser-known partners to produce all the components needed for AI data centers, from chip packaging carrier boards to cooling modules.

Although TSMC and Hon Hai are able to fund the construction of factories in the United States, smaller manufacturers may not be able to do so, which is why Taiwan hopes to provide assistance in the establishment of new U.S. industrial parks.

Gong Mingxin said that the Taiwan government will support suppliers interested in operating in relevant parks, including providing loan guarantees, assisting in communicating with local and federal officials in the United States, and resolving issues ranging from visas to land acquisition. Earlier this year, Taiwan pledged to provide $250 billion in credit guarantees for plans to further invest in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain as part of the Taiwan-U.S. trade deal.

People familiar with the matter revealed that Taiwan has acquired a piece of land in Texas for the construction of an industrial park. In response, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said it would announce the plan at the appropriate time.