Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you very much.
00:01This is a very big day for a lot of reasons, but this gentleman is a very unique man.
00:11I think I could say in the world of chips, certainly, but in the world pretty much of
00:15business, nobody's done what he's done.
00:19For those of you that are into that world, you would say, wow, he's a legend.
00:24But he is a legend, and it's an honor to be with you.
00:27Very great honor.
00:28Thank you very much.
00:29Thank you very much.
00:32Welcoming from TSMC, which is the biggest there is at a level that you can't even calculate,
00:41frankly.
00:42CC Way to the White House for a very historic announcement.
00:47This is a tremendous thing for our country and hopefully for his company.
00:52We're also pleased to be joined by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House AI
00:58and the crypto czar David Sachs, another two very highly respected people.
01:05It's great to have you guys involved.
01:08And David, thank you very much for coming on.
01:11David is sort of the king of intellect in that world.
01:16We have some good people.
01:17Today, Taiwan Semiconductor is announcing that they will be investing at least $100
01:23billion in new capital in the United States over the next short period of time to build
01:29state of the art semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
01:32I think mostly it's going to be in Arizona, which is what I understand, which is a great
01:36a great state.
01:39I like it because I want it, but I want most of them, actually.
01:43But I did.
01:44We want it and we want it big.
01:46The most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America, and it'll be
01:51a big percentage of the chips made by his company.
01:54But as you know, they're based mostly in Taiwan, and they're far and away the biggest.
02:01There's nobody even close.
02:02This $100 billion in new investment will go into building five cutting-edge fabrication
02:08facilities in the great state that we just discussed, Arizona, and will create thousands
02:14of jobs, many thousands of jobs, and high-paying jobs.
02:18In total, today's announcement brings Taiwan semiconductor investments to about $165 billion.
02:25They've started already among the largest new foreign direct investments in the United
02:30States.
02:31Apple, as you know, made a big announcement last week of $500 billion, and we have some
02:35others that have announced.
02:37We have many that want to announce.
02:39But I don't have time to do all of these announcements, I tell you.
02:42But for you, I'm doing the announcement.
02:45This will create hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and boost America's
02:50dominance in artificial intelligence and beyond.
02:54Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy, and really, without the semiconductors,
03:00there is no economy, powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing.
03:06And we must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in
03:11American factories with American skill and American labor.
03:15And that's exactly what we're doing.
03:17As you know, Taiwan pretty much has a monopoly on that market, and I think pretty much is
03:23not a term that's even appropriate.
03:24They do have a monopoly, and this is a tremendous move by the most powerful company in the world.
03:31It's a matter of economic security.
03:33It's also a matter of national security for us.
03:37And at the same time, Mr. Wei will be able to diversify and have his tremendous presence
03:45in another place, in a very safe place.
03:47And I want to thank Taiwan Semiconductor for doing the announcement.
03:53And I'd like to ask Mr. Wei to say a few words, if you might.
03:57And I'd also like to ask Howard and David, you can say a couple of words.
04:01But maybe you should go first, because right now he's the most important man in the room.
04:05I'm sorry, fellas.
04:07Please.
04:08Thank you very much.
04:10Great honor.
04:11Thank you, Mr. President.
04:13I'm a little bit nervous, so I have to pull out my piece of paper.
04:22Mr. President, Secretary Learned, and David, I didn't know that your title, but okay.
04:36First, I want to say thank you to Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to announce
04:44our big project in the U.S.
04:47TSMC is the world's largest chip manufacturing, funded by Dr. Morris Chen in 1987.
04:59It's now at the forefront of semiconductor technology, supporting AI advancement and
05:06industry growth.
05:07In fact, I would like to wind back the time that in 2020, we have to thank President Trump's
05:17vision and his support.
05:21So TSMC starts the journey of establishing the advanced chip manufacturing in Arizona.
05:32And now, let me proudly say, now the vision becomes reality.
05:40In Phoenix, Arizona, with 3,000 employees, we are producing the most advanced chip made
05:49on U.S. solar.
05:53With the success of our first fab, so we are now very happy to announce we are going to
05:59invest additional $100 billion U.S. in addition to our current $65 billion U.S. investment
06:09in Arizona.
06:10We are going to build three more new fabs after we promised three fabs already, and
06:19another two very advanced packaging fab, and most important, an R&D center also in Arizona.
06:31For this, all the investment, $165 billion, is going to create thousands of high-paid
06:38jobs as President Trump announced.
06:42And we are most important, actually, we are going to produce many AI chips.
06:48We are going to produce many chips to support AI's progress and to support the smartphone's
06:56progress.
06:59And again, with that, I want to thank President Trump again for his support.
07:07In addition, I also want to thank my customers in the U.S., such as Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm,
07:19Broadcom.
07:20They all support TSMC's manufacturing in the U.S.
07:25Without their support, we probably cannot make it true.
07:29So again, I want to thank them.
07:34Also, I'd like to thank the TSMC's employees.
07:39Without their effort, we just cannot make it today.
07:43That's all I want to say, and thank you.
07:48Howard, please, David.
07:51Sure.
07:56So I'm thrilled to be here today because President Trump has made it a fundamental objective
08:04to bring semiconductor chip manufacturing home to America.
08:10Under the Biden administration, TSMC received a $6 billion grant, and that encouraged them
08:19to build $65 billion.
08:22So America gave TSMC 10% of the money to build here.
08:27And now you're seeing the power of Donald Trump's presidency because TSMC, the greatest
08:33manufacturer of chips in the world, is coming to America with a $100 billion investment.
08:39And of course, that is backed by the fact that they can come here because they can avoid
08:44paying tariffs.
08:46So the idea is come to America, build greatness in America, build for the American customers,
08:53the Apple, NVIDIA, that whole list that Chairman Wei gave in order to bring production to America.
09:01So we're really, really excited.
09:03This continues the most incredible path you've ever seen in these first weeks and months
09:09of the Trump administration of incredible manufacturing coming to America.
09:14The keys that the president has called out are coming here.
09:18They're coming here in huge size because they want to be in the greatest market in the world,
09:23and they want to avoid the tariffs that if they're not here, they'd have to suffer.
09:27So I want to congratulate C.C. Wei for bringing in this incredible $100 billion investment,
09:34but it's on the shoulders of our President Donald Trump, which is why he's coming.
09:38So thank you.
09:40David?
09:41Thank you, sir.
09:42Well, the products that TSMC makes are literally the most important products in the world.
09:49I mean, these advanced chips power everything.
09:51They power AI.
09:52They power your phone.
09:53They power your cars.
09:55And without them, the whole modern economy would stop, but they're not made in the United
09:59States.
10:00So for TSMC to move here is a huge, huge development, and we owe that to President Trump's leadership
10:04on the economy and Secretary Ludnick as well.
10:07And C.C., thank you for coming here.
10:10Thank you, Dan.
10:12So thank you very much.
10:13A big percentage of chips with this investment will be made now, a big percentage.
10:18Worldwide, we had very little, almost none.
10:21We used to have a lot with Intel, but we had very little.
10:25And we'll be at close to 40 percent of the market with this transaction and a couple
10:30of others that we're doing.
10:32That's a tremendous leap, like a leap that nobody would have really said was possible.
10:40So I just want to thank you all for being here.
10:41If you want a couple of questions, ideally, ideally on this subject, yes, you're probably
10:49talking about 20,000, 25,000 jobs, but it'll get bigger and bigger with time.
10:53Knowing this gentleman, it'll get bigger and bigger.
10:57There'll be no stopping him.
10:58Yeah, Brian, go ahead.
11:01In addition to the job, you talked about national security, and that's one thing I think a lot
11:05of Americans don't understand.
11:07Explain the national security aspect of this.
11:11Well, without the chips and semiconductors, nothing runs today.
11:14You can't buy a car without them.
11:16You can't get a radio, a television.
11:19You can't get anything.
11:21And we thought it was very important, obviously business-wise, but we thought even in terms
11:25of national security to have this large percentage of the chips, semiconductors, and other things
11:31that they make the most important product.
11:34And not a product that you can really copy.
11:38It takes years and years.
11:40And the needle of a pin is total genius.
11:42I mean, they can put things, I mean, something the size of the needle, the point of a pin,
11:48they put information that is just not even believable.
11:52So if you would see this, it's just really something.
11:55Yes, Brian?
11:56One more aspect to that.
11:57Honda announced they're coming to Indiana because of the tariffs.
12:01Once again, they're bringing in additional jobs and manufacturers that are coming on
12:05those.
12:06Well, Honda's coming, and I told you about Apple, that they're going to be starting to
12:08build massively here, 500 billion.
12:12And we have many other companies that are going to be announced, but we have many that
12:14have already announced.
12:16And no, it's going to be great.
12:19It's looking really strong.
12:21I don't think this country has ever seen anything like we're seeing right now.
12:25Now, the tariffs, as you know, will start a week earlier than the reciprocal, which
12:31is going to be a couple of weeks earlier.
12:34Reciprocal starts, reciprocal tariffs start on April 2nd.
12:38And I wanted to make it April 1st, but I didn't want to do it.
12:40I didn't want to go April Fool's Day, because that costs a lot of money, that one day.
12:46So we're going April 2nd.
12:48But very importantly, tomorrow tariffs, 25 percent on Canada and 25 percent on Mexico,
12:54and that'll start.
12:56So they're going to have to have a tariff.
12:57So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United
13:01States, in which case they have no tariffs.
13:04In other words, you build – and this is exactly what Mr. Wei is doing.
13:07By building here – otherwise, they'll build – if they did them in Taiwan to send
13:11them here, they'll have 25 percent or 30 percent or 50 percent or whatever the number
13:17may be.
13:18Someday, it'll go only up.
13:20But by doing it here, he has no tariffs, so he's way ahead of the game.
13:24And I would just say this to people in Canada or Mexico, if they're going to build car
13:29plants, the people that are doing them are much better off building here, because we
13:33have the market.
13:34We're the market where they sell the most.
13:36And so I think it's going to be very exciting.
13:38Very exciting for the automobile companies.
13:41Very exciting for – I can think of any – as an example, North Carolina, they had the great
13:47– I used to go there to buy furniture for hotels.
13:50And it's been wiped out.
13:52That business all went to other countries.
13:55And now it's all going to come back into North Carolina, the furniture manufacturing
14:00business.
14:01Please.
14:03The President, is the heroes deal now dead?
14:04Or can it be revived?
14:05What do you think?
14:06Well, I'll let you know.
14:07We're making a speech.
14:08You probably heard about it tomorrow night, so I'll let you know tomorrow night.
14:10But no, I don't think so.
14:11I think it's – look, it's a great deal for us because Biden very, very foolishly
14:19– if stupidly, frankly – gave $300 billion and $350 billion more accurately to a country
14:29to fight and to try and do things.
14:33And you know what happened?
14:34We get nothing.
14:35We get nothing.
14:36Just gave it.
14:37And if – we could have rebuilt our entire U.S. Navy with $350 billion.
14:41Think of it.
14:42$350 billion, we could have rebuilt our U.S. Navy.
14:45So he gave it away as fast as the money could be gone.
14:49And what we're doing is getting that all back and a lot more than that.
14:53And what we need – it's very important for this business that we're talking about
14:57here with chips and semiconductors and everything else.
15:00We need rare earths.
15:02And the deal we have is we have the finest rare earths that you can –
15:06Q Mr. President, what do you need to see from President Zelensky to restart these negotiations?
15:11THE PRESIDENT Well, I just think he should be more appreciative because this country
15:15has stuck with them through thick and thin.
15:18We've given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us
15:22because as you know, that's right there.
15:24That's the border.
15:27This country really was like the fence on the border.
15:29It was very important to Europe.
15:32And I'm not knocking Europe, I'm saying that just – they were a lot smarter than
15:36Joe Biden because Joe Biden didn't have a clue.
15:38He just gave money hand over fist.
15:41And they should have been able to equalize with us.
15:43In other words, if we gave a dollar, they should have given – well, we gave $350 billion,
15:48they probably gave 100.
15:50But on top of it all, they get their money back because they're doing it in the form
15:54of a loan, and it's a secured loan.
15:56So when I saw that, which I've known about for a little while, I said it's time for
16:01us to be smart.
16:03At the same time, it's great for them because they get us in the country taking the rare
16:08earth, which is going to fuel this big engine, and especially the engine that we've in
16:13a very short time created, and we get something.
16:16And we're in the – we're there.
16:17We have a presence there.
16:19With all of that being said, I want one thing to happen.
16:22I want all of those young people to stop being killed.
16:25They're being killed by the thousands.
16:27Every single week – last week, 2,700 were killed – 2,700 young – in this case, just
16:33about all young boys from Ukraine and from Russia.
16:41And that's not young people from the United States, but it's on a human basis.
16:47I want to see it stop.
16:49The money is one thing, but the death.
16:52And they're losing thousands of soldiers a week, and that's not including the people
16:57that get killed every time a town goes down or a missile goes into a town.
17:04And I want to see it stop.
17:05Yes.
17:06Are you considering canceling military aid to Ukraine?
17:10And can we get a reaction to what the Prime Minister said, that your administration is
17:14bringing U.S. worldview in alignment with Moscow's?
17:18So this is a deal that should have never happened.
17:21This is a deal that would have never happened.
17:23And it didn't happen.
17:24For four years, it didn't happen.
17:25It was never even close to happening.
17:28If I were President, it would not have happened.
17:30And October 7th would not have happened in Israel.
17:35And inflation wouldn't have happened.
17:36And Afghanistan, disastrous the way they withdrew – not the fact that they withdrew, but the
17:41way they withdrew.
17:42It would have never happened.
17:43And we would have had Bagram right now instead of China having it.
17:47It was one hour away from where China makes their nuclear weapons.
17:50We would have kept Bagram, one of the biggest air bases in the world.
17:54All of these things happened, and it's a shame.
17:56But it is what it is, and now we're here.
17:59I want to see it end fast.
18:02I don't want to see this go on for years and years.
18:05Now, President Zelensky supposedly made a statement today in AP – I'm not a big
18:10fan of AP, so maybe it was an incorrect statement – but he said he thinks the war is going
18:14to go on for a long time.
18:18And he better not be right about that.
18:20That's all I'm saying.
18:21So on this project, could this minimize the impact to the U.S. with chips should China
18:26decide to isolate Taiwan or China decide to take Taiwan?
18:29Well, it's a very interesting point.
18:31It's a great question, actually.
18:33But this would certainly – I can't say minimize.
18:37That would be a catastrophic event, obviously.
18:40But it will at least give us a position where we have – in this very, very important business,
18:45we would have a very big part of it in the United States.
18:48So it would have a big impact if something should happen with Taiwan.
18:52And the Russian sanctions – are you looking at relieving Russian sanctions if there is
18:56a peace deal?
18:57Well, we're going to make deals with everybody to get this war, including Europe and European
19:02nations.
19:04And they've acted very well.
19:05They're good people.
19:06I know.
19:07Most of them are friends of mine, the heads of state, the heads of the various countries,
19:11prime ministers from the different – I got four prime ministers.
19:16Four prime ministers and five presidents called me over the last two days.
19:22And they want to work it out.
19:23They want to get it worked out.
19:25And I think they're also – they're talking money, but the money is less important than
19:28the deaths.
19:29We're talking thousands of young people a week.
19:33And people would say, why do I care about Ukraine young people?
19:36Why do I care about – and not all young, but they're pretty young.
19:41Ukraine is running a little bit low.
19:43And they're getting older.
19:45They're recruiting older people.
19:46It's a very, very sad thing that's happening over there.
19:49And we want to get it finished.
19:51We want to stop the death.
19:52Mr. President, on the tariffs, is there any room left for Canada and Mexico to make a
19:58deal before midnight?
19:59And should we expect those Chinese tariffs, the extra 10 percent, to take effect?
20:02No room left for Mexico or for Canada.
20:05No, the tariffs, they're all set.
20:07They go into effect tomorrow.
20:08And on China, Mr. President, just to follow up on my colleague's question –
20:12And just so you understand, vast amounts of fentanyl have poured into our country from
20:19Mexico and, as you know, also from China, where it goes to Mexico and goes to Canada.
20:25And China also had an additional 10, so it's 10 plus 10.
20:29And it comes in from Canada and it comes in from Mexico, and that's a very important
20:34thing to say.
20:35Yeah, please, go ahead.
20:36Have you decided if you're going to suspend military aid to Ukraine?
20:39Have you made that decision?
20:40Well, I haven't even talked about that right now.
20:42I mean, right now, we'll see what happens.
20:44A lot of things are happening right now.
20:47As we speak – I mean, literally, as we speak, I could give you an answer and go back to
20:51my office, the beautiful Oval Office.
20:54I could go back into the Oval Office and find out that the answer is obsolete.
20:58It's like his business.
21:00It's obsolete.
21:01You come up with a new chip and it's obsolete about two minutes later, right?
21:05But that's what's good about his business.
21:06That's why he's the only one that's successful at it.
21:10Just to follow up on my colleague's question, Russia is saying that your foreign policy
21:14is largely in line with their vision.
21:17Should that be concerning to Americans?
21:19Said what?
21:20Should that be concerning to Americans?
21:21Read the statement.
21:22That Russia – Russia says that your administration's foreign policy is, quote, largely in line
21:27with their vision.
21:28Well, I'll tell you what, I think it takes two to tango.
21:31And you're going to have to make a deal with Russia and you're going to have to
21:34make a deal with Ukraine.
21:35You're going to have to have the assent and you're going to have to have the consent
21:39from the European nations, because I think that's important, and from us.
21:44I think everybody has to get into a room, so to speak, and we have to make a deal.
21:49And the deal could be made very fast.
21:50It should not be that hard a deal to make.
21:52It could be made very fast.
21:54Now, maybe somebody doesn't want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn't want to
21:57make a deal, I think that person won't be around very long.
22:00That person will not be listened to very long, because I believe that Russia wants
22:05to make a deal.
22:06I believe certainly the people of Ukraine want to make a deal.
22:09They've suffered more than anybody else.
22:11We talk about suffering.
22:13They've suffered.
22:14But if you think about it, under President Bush, they got Georgia, right?
22:21Russia got Georgia.
22:23Under President Obama, they got a nice big submarine base, a nice big chunk of land where
22:31they have their submarines.
22:32You know that, right?
22:34Crimea.
22:35Under President Trump, they got nothing.
22:38And under President Biden, they tried to get the whole thing.
22:41They tried to get the whole big Ukraine, the whole thing.
22:46If I didn't get in here, they would have gotten the whole thing.
22:49So I can only say you can go back to Bush, you can go back to Obama, and go back to Biden.
22:56They took a lot.
22:57The only one they didn't get, you know what I gave them?
23:00I gave them anti-tank missiles.
23:03That's what I gave them.
23:04I gave them sanctions on Russia, on Russia.
23:10I gave them javelins.
23:11You know the javelins?
23:12You know when they took out all those tanks?
23:14You know, the tanks were heading to Kiev by the hundreds, and they were unstoppable.
23:23And I gave them javelins.
23:26So you know, I really, Putin is the one that will tell you this has not been so good for them.
23:34The fact is that I just want fairness.
23:37I want fairness.
23:38But think of it.
23:40I gave Russia nothing except grief.
23:44I gave them nothing.
23:46I gave them sanctions and javelins.
23:48That's what I gave them.
23:50Obama gave them sheets, and you heard that statement before.
23:52It's a very famous, Trump gave them javelins and Obama gave them sheets, and then they
23:55say how close I am to Russia.
23:58Let me tell you, we have to make a deal because there are a lot of people being killed that
24:01shouldn't be killed.
24:02But remember, Trump gave them nothing, and the other presidents gave them a lot.
24:06They gave them everything.
24:07Mr. President, on trade, you met with President, well-deserved President Javier Milet at CIPAC.
24:11He wants to sign a free trade agreement with the United States.
24:15Is that something that you would consider even with Argentina?
24:17I'll consider anything.
24:18And Argentina, I think he's great, by the way.
24:20I think he's a great leader.
24:22He's doing a great job.
24:23He's doing a fantastic job.
24:24Brought it back from oblivion.
24:26Yeah, we'll look at things.
24:29We're looking at the UK with things.
24:30It doesn't have to be tariffs.
24:32But tariffs are easy.
24:34They're fast.
24:36They're efficient.
24:37And they bring fairness.
24:38For instance, when people kill their dollar, their equivalent of the dollar, whether it's
24:44the won or the yen in Japan or the won in China, when they drop them down, that puts
24:50us at a very unfair disadvantage.
24:53So all I have to do is say, Howard, we're going to have to raise the tariffs a little
24:57bit because I've called President Xi, I've called the leaders of Japan to say you can't
25:01continue to reduce and break down your currency.
25:05You can't do it because it's unfair to us.
25:08It's very hard for us to make tractors, Caterpillar, here when Japan, China, and other places are
25:14killing their currency, meaning driving it down.
25:18So all of these things add up.
25:20And the way you solve it very easily is with tariffs, because when they do that, instead
25:23of having to make phone calls every day like I used to do with certain leaders, President
25:29Xi a little bit, a lot of phone calls, talking about the fact that they're lowering their
25:34won, they're lowering it down.
25:36And that makes it very, very hard for us.
25:38So this way, I just say, look, let them do that, and we make up for it with the tariffs.
25:43But —
25:44Q Will you be speaking with the Mexican president from the Chamber of Commerce?
25:45PRESIDENT TRUMP Yeah, sure, I will.
25:46I have a lot of respect for her.
25:48I have a lot of respect for her.
25:49Q Mr. President —
25:50Q Mr. President —
25:51Q —
25:52Q —
25:53Q —
25:54Q —
25:55Q —
25:56Q —
25:57Q —
25:58Q —
25:59Q —
26:00Q —
26:01Q —
26:02Q —
26:04Actually, I'll start with some kind of an economic retaliation, which I don't think
26:06they're going to retaliate too much.
26:08Look, the United States has been taken advantage of for 40 years.
26:14The United States has been a laughingstock for years and years.
26:18That's why this gentleman is built in Taiwan, instead of building here.
26:21It would have been better if he built here, if we had a president that knew what they
26:25were doing — and we had a lot of them, very bad on trade.
26:28Look, I'm a huge fan of Ronald Reagan, but he was bad on trade, very bad on trade.
26:34He allowed a lot of people, a lot of businesses to be taken.
26:37So I say that with due respect, because he was so great on other things.
26:41But he was bad on trade.
26:43We are setting records right now, records like nobody has ever seen before.
26:49When you have companies like this coming in, and almost 40 percent of their company in
26:54one signature is going to be devoted to what he does, which is one of the most important
27:00businesses in the world.
27:01That's an unbelievable thing.
27:03When Apple now is going to start building all of their plants here, all because of what
27:09we've done in terms of, it's not because he likes me, or they like me, they don't probably
27:14like me at all.
27:15I don't know, I think he likes me a little bit at least.
27:18You know what, it's the incentive we've created, or the negative incentive.
27:24I mean, it's going to be very costly for people to take advantage of this country.
27:29They can't come in and steal our money, and steal our jobs, and take our factories, and
27:34take our businesses, and expect not to be punished.
27:38And they're being punished by tariffs.
27:40It's a very powerful weapon that politicians haven't used because they were either dishonest,
27:47stupid, or paid off in some other form.
27:51And now we're using them.
27:53Have you spoken with President Xi about this?
27:56I don't want to tell you that.
27:58Thank you very much everybody.