TAIPEI, May 27 (Reuters) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Wednesday gifted U.S. President Donald Trump the two-volume autobiography of the founder of chip firm TSMC, saying he hoped it would help him understand the industry’s development.
Trump has accused Taiwan, including this month in an interview with Fox News, of “stealing” the U.S. chip industry.
Taiwan-based TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker and major supplier to companies like Nvidia. It is also investing $165 billion to build factories in the U.S. state of Arizona.
Speaking at a U.S. Independence Day reception in Taipei, Lai presented a copy of TSMC founder Morris Chang’s autobiography to the top U.S. diplomat in Taiwan, Raymond Greene, and asked him to deliver it to Trump.
Because Trump wants to re-industrialise the U.S. and become the world’s AI hub, and since “he also cares deeply about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry”, Lai said he was gifting him Chang’s autobiography.
“These two volumes fully document how Taiwan’s semiconductor industry developed,” he added, without directly mentioning Trump’s previous criticism of Taiwan’s chip industry.
“This way, he will gain a better understanding of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, and the future cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. in semiconductor and artificial intelligence development will undoubtedly become even closer.”
Lai handed over the books to Greene as both laughed.
Chang was in the audience, in a wheelchair.
Taiwan, for whom the U.S. has traditionally been its most important international supporter despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, has been vexed by comments Trump made after meeting China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing this month.
Trump said arms sales to Taipei were a “negotiating chip,” that he is still considering whether to approve a new arms sales package for Taiwan, and that he would speak with Lai, though that has yet to happen.
Lai said he hoped that the solid relationship built between Taiwan and the U.S. will continue to deepen.
“I have always believed that freedom brings our distance closer, and democracy makes our friendship even tighter,” he added.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Toby Chopra, Philippa Fletcher and Andrea Ricci )
Comments