Taiwan's Lai gives Trump TSMC books in chip diplomacy push

Lai Ching-te used a ceremonial Independence Day reception in Taipei to send Washington a pointed message wrapped in a book. He gave Raymond Greene, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the two-volume autobiography of TSMC founder Morris Chang and asked that it be passed to Donald Trump.

The reception on May 27 was tied to the 250th anniversary of American independence, and Greene described the gathering as part of “Freedom 250.” Lai’s choice of gift was meant to do more than honor a chip industry pioneer. He said he wanted Trump to understand how Taiwan’s semiconductor sector developed and why it sits at the center of the island’s future relationship with the United States.

The gesture landed in the middle of an increasingly blunt fight over chips. Trump has accused Taiwan of “stealing” the U.S. chip industry and repeated the criticism in a recent Fox News interview. Taiwan’s Cabinet rejected that accusation on May 21, saying the semiconductor industry was the result of “long and painstaking independent development by local companies.”

Lai’s answer has been to emphasize Taiwan’s centrality to the global supply chain. TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to companies such as Nvidia. On March 4, 2025, the company said it would expand its U.S. investment by another $100 billion, bringing total planned spending in the country to $165 billion. The plan includes three more fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and an R&D center in Arizona, a scale of commitment that has become a reference point in the debate over how much advanced chipmaking should move to the United States.

The autobiography carries its own political weight. Morris Chang founded TSMC in 1987 after earlier careers in the United States and helped pioneer the dedicated foundry model that made Taiwan indispensable to global chip production. The second volume of his memoir was published on November 29, 2024, covering his life and career from 1964 through 2018.

Lai has also tried to link the chip issue to security. He said he would tell Trump he hoped the United States would continue arms sales to Taiwan, which Taipei sees as essential to regional peace and stability. Taiwanese officials have stressed that those sales are a legal commitment, not a bargaining chip. With no Trump-Lai call planned, the books in Taipei functioned as a quieter message: Taiwan wants its semiconductor strength recognized, its technology ties deepened and its security support kept steady.