Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sat down with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei on Thursday, September 1, 2022, and pointed to one number: $12 billion. That is what Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. is investing in his state.
The investment is expected to create 2,000 jobs in Arizona. TSMC plans to send many of its future workers to Taiwan for training.
“Arizona and Taiwan have many shared economic strengths specifically in technology and advanced manufacturing industries,” Ducey said. “Both Arizona and Taiwan are global semiconductor leaders and it is in this industry where our partnership is the greatest.” He said the investment “has elevated the potential of what’s possible between Arizona and Taiwan.”
Beyond the factory
The ties go past chips. Arizona hosts a base that trains Taiwan’s F-16 fighter pilots, who are central to the island’s defense against a threatened Chinese blockade or invasion. The state also plans to open a representative office in Taipei, and the two sides signed an agreement on cooperation in higher education. The links trace back to Arizona’s former senators Barry Goldwater and John McCain, conservatives who were sharply critical of Beijing.
Tsai’s message
Neither leader named China directly. Tsai came close. “In the face of authoritarian expansionism and the economic challenges of the post-pandemic era, Taiwan seeks to bolster cooperation with the United States in the semiconductor and other high-tech industries,” she said.
“This would help build more secure and more resilient supply chains. We look forward to jointly producing democracy chips to safeguard the interests of our democratic partners and create greater prosperity.”
China’s reaction to the visits
Taiwan leads the world in making the chips used in everyday electronics, and those chips have become a battleground in the technology competition between the U.S. and China. Ducey’s meeting was the latest in a run of visits by U.S. political leaders that have angered Beijing. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and condemns all official contact between Taipei and governments that recognize Beijing.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan the month before made her the highest-ranking American official to visit in 25 years. China answered by firing missiles over the island and sending ships and planes across the midline of the Taiwan Strait.
The U.S. has since sent a pair of missile cruisers through the strait, which is 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide, rejecting Chinese protests. It has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it remains the island’s main source of political and military support, and federal law requires it to ensure Taiwan can defend itself.
