No, President Biden is not giving a Chinese company $6.6 billion to open a microchip plant in Arizona

Semiconductors, also known as microchips, are necessary to make electronic devices like smartphones, computers and advanced medical diagnostic equipment function. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a global shortage of these microchips, prompting some politicians to encourage manufacturers to make these chips within the United States.

Susan texted VERIFY to ask if President Joe Biden is giving a Chinese company $6.6 billion to open up a chip manufacturing plant in Arizona.

THE QUESTION

Is Biden giving a Chinese company $6.6 billion to open up a chip manufacturing plant in Arizona?

THE SOURCES

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)

• U.S. Department of Commerce

• Chips and Science Act

• Council on Foreign Relations

• Government of Taiwan

• U.S. Department of State

THE ANSWER

No, Biden is not giving a Chinese company $6.6 billion to open up a chip manufacturing plant in Arizona.

WHAT WE FOUND

The Biden administration is giving the Taiwan-based Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) $6.6 billion in funding to open a new microchip manufacturing plant in Arizona, its third in the state.

On April 8, 2024, TSMC and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced TSMC Arizona, a TSMC subsidiary, would build its third semiconductor fabrication plant in Arizona in return for $6.6 billion in funding.

The 2022 Chips and Science Act funds incentives for companies to produce semiconductors in the United States. In March, Intel announced it would receive approximately $8.5 billion in Chips and Science Act funding to advance its semiconductor manufacturing, research and development projects in the United States.

TSMC is the largest semiconductor company in the world and Taiwan leads the world in semiconductor exports. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, TSMC produces 56.7% of all of the world’s semiconductors.

The People's Republic of China, the country typically referred to as China, considers Taiwan a rogue province, but Taiwan maintains its sovereignty as a state independent from China. 

The U.S. Department of State considers Taiwan “a key U.S. partner” with which it has “a robust unofficial relationship.” While the U.S. does not officially support Taiwanese independence, the U.S. helps Taiwan “maintain a sufficient self-defense capability” and maintains its ability to “resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of Taiwan.”