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TSMC's CEO will not attend Trump's inauguration and downplays concerns about the impact of US chip restrictions on the company's business.

Market IntelThursday, Jan 16, 2025 6:20 am ET

1min read

CEO C.C. Wei will not attend the inauguration of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, and TSMC will not make a donation, preferring to stay out of the spotlight, he said on Thursday.

When asked if he would donate or attend, he said: "We keep a low profile, so the answer to both questions is no."

The inauguration on Monday is set to be a star-studded affair, with a host of tech luminaries expected to attend, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.

Mr Wei's decision comes as US efforts to curb the flow of advanced chips to China are deepening. The Biden administration this week unveiled new rules aimed at especially restricting the provision of artificial intelligence accelerators to China, which have been protested by Nvidia and other tech companies, who say they undermine American innovation and were rushed out in the waning days of the outgoing administration.

Mr Wei's comments came as TSMC reported better-than-expected revenue and capital expenditure outlooks for 2025 and boosted the market. The strong performance bolstered optimism about an unprecedented AI spending cycle that has taken companies such as Nvidia to new heights. The emergence of ChatGPT in the past two years has fuelled an upgrade cycle for data centres, benefiting companies that provide hardware for the AI boom.

Despite this, there has yet to be a large, profitable AI application, raising concerns about potential bubbles. Like many companies in the industry, TSMC is trying to navigate the uncertainty of the US-China tech conflict, which could disrupt global supply chains.

But Mr Wei on Thursday downplayed concerns about the impact on TSMC's business, saying the effects of the restrictions appeared to be "manageable" and would not affect chips for non-AI areas such as cars and cryptocurrency mining. "We have 100 per cent confidence that there will be no leakage to the restricted area," he said.

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