Trump's goal of U.S. chip self-sufficiency unrealistic: Japan expert

Taipei, March 17 (CNA) The United States cannot achieve a totally independent semiconductor supply chain as it needs partners, including Taiwan, to provide key components and engineering talent, Japan's former "chip czar" Akira Amari said in Taipei on Monday.

In his address at the Yushan Forum, Amari said U.S. President Donald Trump is aiming to achieve full self-sufficiency for America in the semiconductor industry.

Toward that end, he recently persuaded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's top contract chipmaker, to pledge an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the U.S., Amari said.

Yet even then, U.S. self-sufficiency is still "impossible. Allied and like-minded countries should concentrate on their strengths to build a complete supply chain rather than putting everything in America," Amari said based on a translation of his speech.

Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Belgium and even South Korea are strong in manufacturing, and ASEAN countries are known for producing high qualify semiconductor components, he said.

"We need to combine the strengths of countries around the world," he said.

Also, the success of TSMC relies heavily on its talented engineers at all levels of the organization, he argued, according to the translation, saying that the high yield rate at TSMC's first fab in Arizona was because most of the 1,300 workers were Taiwanese.

That talent was critical to a strong chip industry, Amari said.

Yet he believed that the U.S. would eventually insist that TSMC use American workers, which would be a problem because American workers are extremely protective of their labor rights and take little initiative to do their jobs better, he contended.

One other factor, Amari said, was that to prevent the leak of confidential information into the wrong hands, allied countries have to group together rather than go it alone.

Amari was the leader of Japan's parliamentary caucus for the strategic promotion of the semiconductor industry until late 2024. He was also behind Japan's decision to invite TSMC to open a wafer fab -- Japan's most advanced microchip facility -- in Kumamoto.

The 2025 Yushan Forum is being held under the theme of "New Southbound Policy+: Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, and a New World" from Monday to Tuesday.

The annual forum aims to include more like-minded partners in discussions on how Taiwan is taking advantage of smart, digital and innovative solutions to promote the so-called "Digital New Southbound Policy," according to organizers.