Following the announcement of impending chip import tariffs in January, the Trump Administration is now planning to offer major U.S. tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon the ability to circumvent them. However, the number of TSMC-made chips exempt from the tariffs may be directly tied to the Taiwanese chipmaker's scale of investment in American operations.

This follows recent trade negotiations between the U.S. and Taiwan, where the Trump Administration agreed to cut tariffs on imports from the island to 15 percent from 20 percent, but that was contingent on Taiwanese companies investing $250 billion in the American chip industry, specifically chip fabrication on U.S. shores.