A US academic has rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that Taiwan took America’s chip industry. Michael Cunningham, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, disputed this characterization directly. Instead, he described Taiwan and the United States as strategic partners rather than competitors.
According to Cunningham, US companies still lead global semiconductor design and innovation. Meanwhile, these firms simply outsource manufacturing to specialized Taiwanese companies for production. This arrangement, he argued, has actually benefited American semiconductor businesses tremendously over time.
Trump made his original claim during a July 2 interview with CNBC. Specifically, the president alleged that Taiwan had literally taken the entire chip industry. He further predicted the United States would control up to 60 percent of chip manufacturing eventually.
However, Cunningham firmly dismissed this prediction, calling it entirely unrealistic given current circumstances. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co continues expanding operations in the United States alongside existing Taiwanese facilities. Notably, these represent new investments rather than any relocation away from Taiwan.
The company keeps building additional fabrication plants in Taiwan as global demand keeps growing. Furthermore, Cunningham explained that Taiwan’s mature ecosystem allows cheaper, higher-quality production at unmatched scale. Consequently, replicating this infrastructure quickly within the United States remains highly improbable.
Regarding Trump’s motivations, Cunningham suggested the president wants to reverse American deindustrialization trends broadly. Nevertheless, concern about chip industry dependence on Taiwan spans both major American political parties. Both Trump and former president Joe Biden pursued different strategies toward expanding domestic manufacturing capacity.
In a previous article, Cunningham argued that America’s technological future still runs through Taiwan. Therefore, partnership with Taiwanese semiconductor firms remains essential to broader US industrial goals. Ultimately, experts suggest reducing reliance on Taiwan will prove difficult within the coming years.
