Trump administration is not eyeing equity in TSMC, Micron, official says

The Trump administration is considering taking equity stakes in companies getting funds from the 2022 CHIPS Act but has no similar plans for bigger firms boosting US investments, such as TSMC and Micron, a White House official told Reuters.

The official confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that the administration does not intend to seek equity stakes in semiconductor companies, such as Micron and TSMC, that plan to step up investment.

On Tuesday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the government continued to work on the possibility of taking a 10 percent stake in troubled chipmaker Intel and suggested it would seek further stakes in other grant recipients.

"If we're going to give you the money, we want a piece of the action for the American taxpayer," Lutnick told CNBC.

While the Biden administration had been giving "money for free" to companies such as Intel and TSMC, he added, "Donald Trump turned it into saying, 'Hey, we want equity for the money.'"

At a March event with President Donald Trump at the White House, TSMC, which has Nvidia and Apple as key clients, announced plans for the new US$100 billion (HK$780 billion) US investment, in addition to US$65 billion committed for three manufacturing facilities in the state of Arizona.

Micron boosted its US investment plans in June.

TSMC executives have already had discussions about returning their subsidies if the administration asks to become a shareholder, the Wall Street Journal said.

The White House and TSMC declined to comment. Micron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US Commerce Department, which oversees the US$52.7- billion CHIPS and Science Act, finalized subsidies of US$6.6 billion late last year for TSMC to produce semiconductors in the United States.

The commerce department did not immediately comment.

Besides Intel, Micron, TSMC and Samsung were among the biggest recipients of CHIPS Act funding, but almost all of it has yet to be disbursed.

Trump has previously said he wanted to kill the CHIPS Act program.

In the past, the US government has taken stakes in companies during periods of economic uncertainty to provide financial support and restore confidence.

Reuters