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President Trump has announced that iPhone processor supplier TSMC is to invest $300 billion in US manufacturing, and says a semiconductor tariff is imminent.
After Trump threatened higher tariffs on imports from India in time for the iPhone 17 launch, he has now been claiming the US will see greater foreign investment as well as the awaited semiconductor tariff announcements.
“You know, we have the biggest in the world, as you know, from Taiwan is coming over and spending $300 billion in Arizona,” Trump said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” “building the biggest plant in the world for chips and semiconductors.”
Trump wasn’t clear and did not name TSMC directly, but it is based in Taiwan, and it is the largest processor manufacturer in the world. TSMC has reportedly declined to comment.
However, in March 2025, TSMC was reported to be committing to greater investment in the US. The stated amount then was $100 billion, though, and together with its previous investments, brings the total to $165 billion announced so far.
Trump did not say whether this claimed $300 billion is new investment, or includes the company’s previous commitment.
Semiconductor tariff may be imminent
Trump was also not clear in his remarks about the forthcoming semiconductor tariff. This follows the ongoing national security investigation into semiconductor usage, which the White House started in April 2025 but immediately prejudged.
Ostensibly, if the probe discovered concerns that warranted a new tariff, they would be imposed. But the administration has said from day one that there will be a semiconductor tariff.
Now Trump says that this will be announced “within the next week or so.” However, Trump tends to always say something will be in the next week or two, so it’s still not clear when the actual announcement will be made.
In discussing it, though, he made a complicated comparison to “steel, aluminum, et cetera,” and how these are all separate classes of something which therefore have separate tariffs.
“And within the next week or so, we’re going to be announcing tariffs on, specifically, this is a, you know, this is a separate class and the 15% tariffs on sort of everything,” he said. “These are excluded classes, I call them. I like to call them excluded like steel, aluminum, et cetera.”
“Well, we’re going to be announcing on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category, because we want them made in the United States,” he continued. “And by the way, they’re being made in the United States.”
Trump was not pressed for clarification on this point. But he most likely meant that semiconductor tariffs would be a different amount than the general 15% imposed on many countries.
A different tariff amount could of course be higher or lower than that 15%. However, the two categories he mentioned, steel and aluminum, face tariffs of 50%.
Even without any further tariff on semiconductors, Apple has said that by September 2025, it will have spent around $2 billion in total tariff costs.
