Trump says he told TSMC it would pay 100% tax if it doesn't build in U.S.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he told the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which has pledged to build new factories in the United States, it would pay a tax of up to 100% if it did not build its plants in the country.

Speaking at a Republican National Congressional Committee event, Trump criticized former President Joe Biden's administration for providing a $6.6 billion grant to TSMC's U.S. unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona, saying semiconductor companies do not need the money.

"TSMC, I gave them no money ... all I did was say, if you don't build your plant here, you're going to pay a big tax," Trump said.

TSMC declined to comment.

In March, TSMC, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, said at the White House that it plans to make a fresh $100 billion investment in the U.S. that includes building five additional chip facilities in coming years.

Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported the chipmaker could face a penalty of $1 billion or more to settle a U.S. export control investigation over a chip it made that ended up inside a Huawei Technologies AI processor.