Ian Tsung-yen Chen, professor and director at the Institute of Political Science atNational Sun Yat-sen University, suggested that Taiwan's government will behoping semiconductor makers cooperate with Trump's policies for the sake ofmaintaining bilateral ties. "But the Taiwan government's influence on theoverseas layout of Taiwan's semiconductor enterprises is limited, and the finaldecision is still in the enterprise itself," Chen said.
Still, he questioned how far the Trump administration would go, given therealities of the chip industry and American needs.
"I believe that Taiwan and the U.S. government know that it is impossible tocopy Taiwan's semiconductor production to the U.S. by relying on tariffs," hesaid. "It is even more difficult to replicate the process, which involves theappropriate investment environment, labor market and norms, many high-quality engineers, tens of thousands of [pieces of] equipment, raw materialmanufacturers" and so on.
He said both sides know that if tariffs prevent the U.S. from obtaining theadvanced technology it needs, it will undermine national strength. "So I don'tthink Trump will do it seriously," Chen said.
Time is another issue, he added. "Trump has only a four-year term, and it willtake a long time to open a semiconductor factory and copy the process overseas,"he said.