During a local Taiwanese television broadcast, the subject of relocating 40% of TSMC semiconductor production to the US was brought up.
Vice Premier Cheng Li-Chiun stated that such a relocation is "impossible", and that she had explained to the Trump Administration that relocating an entire supply chain ecosystem, such as the one TSMC has spent decades building from scratch, cannot be moved.
TSMC is also bound by framework of the Taiwanese government who has promised the U.S that national tech companies invest $250 billion directly, while the government will provide another $250 billion to the companies for expansion in the U.S in regards to production facilities. How much TSMC is get out of these initiatives is unknown, but it's reasonable to suggest that it will be at least a two digit number.
The demand for relocating 40% of TSMC comes from an interview last month with Commerce Secretary of U.S.A., Howard Lutnick on CNBC. Despite a trade agreement having just been negotiated, he outright said that he wanted 40% of the entire Taiwan chip supply chain to be relocated to the U.S and within the current term of Donald Trump as president. He stated that he wants to "bring those semiconductors home", calling the $500 billion dollar investment for a "down payment". This is most likely a way for the U.S to circumvent national Taiwanese rules that prohibit chip plants in other countries owned by Taiwanese companies from manufacturing anything that is not at least two generations old.
TSMC has already spent $65 billion on U.S chip plants, with another $165 billion planned. So far not a single analyst has been able to find a feasible way for such a relocation to be done, both in regards to the high cost of both relocation as well as operating in the U.S. compared with Taiwan, the existing deeply integrated supply chain system, and the fact that the U.S. simply does not have the qualified work force needed.