(Jan 16): Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) chief will not be attending US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, skipping a high-profile ceremony likely to feature a panoply of tech industry luminaries.
The world’s largest chipmaker won’t be making a donation either, because it prefers to stay under the radar, chief executive officer CC Wei said on Thursday. Asked about making a contribution or his possible attendance, Wei said, “We keep a low profile, so to both questions, the answer is no.”
The inauguration next Monday, Jan 20, will be attended by leaders from across the tech industry, with Apple Inc chief executive officer Tim Cook, Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos, and Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk all expected to join.
Wei’s decision coincides with a deepening of US restrictions aimed at curbing the flow of advanced chips to China. The Biden administration this week unfurled new regulations intended to curb in particular the supply of artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators to the Asian country. TSMC customer Nvidia Corp and other tech firms have protested the regulations, saying they hurt American innovation and were rushed into being in the final days of the departing administration.
Wei was speaking as TSMC fired up markets with a better-than-expected outlook for revenue and capital spending in 2025. That strong performance buoyed optimism around an unprecedented AI spending cycle that drove the likes of Nvidia to new heights. The advent of ChatGPT spurred an escalating data centre expansion over the past two years, benefiting companies that provide hardware for the AI boom.
Still, the lack of a big profit-generating AI application so far stoked concerns about a potential bubble. And like much of the industry, TSMC is grappling with uncertainties stemming from a US-China tech conflict that threatens to disrupt supply chains around the world.
Wei on Thursday played down concerns about the hit to TSMC’s business. The impact of the curbs looked “manageable”, and the restrictions won’t affect chips for non-AI sectors such as cars and crypto-mining.
“We have 100% confidence that we don’t leak out into restricted areas,” Wei said.
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Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee