Taiwan’s refusal to the US: Taipei has never committed to Washington regarding a 50-50 sharing of chip production.

Taiwan’s refusal to the US: Taipei has never committed to Washington regarding a 50-50 sharing of chip production.

“I want to make it clear that this is the American idea, and our negotiating team has never committed to a 50-50 split in chip production,” Taiwan’s Deputy Prime Minister Lee-Cheon-chung told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday.

The comments came as U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told News Nation that having 50 percent of Taiwan’s chip production in the United States would ensure “we have the capacity if needed.”

“That’s the conversation we’ve had with Taiwan: You have to understand that you must have 50 percent of your production in the United States,” he added.

“Our goal is to have a 40 percent, maybe 50 percent, market share in chips and wafers, the semiconductors that we need for American consumption. That’s our goal,” Lutnick continued.

“Rest assured, this was not raised in the recent negotiations, and we will not accept such a condition,” Lee said.

The comments came after Cheng returned from Washington, where he said talks on US tariffs on Taiwanese exports had “made some progress.”

Taipei is trying to finalize a tariff deal with the US after Washington raised tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 20% and threatened a relatively hefty tariff on semiconductor imports, which has alarmed Taiwanese manufacturers.

The move comes as rising demand for artificial intelligence-related technologies has boosted Taiwan’s trade surplus with the US, putting it in the crosshairs of Trump’s policies.

According to Taiwan, more than 70% of the island’s exports to the US involve information and communications technology, including chips. To avoid tariffs, Taipei has also pledged to invest more in the United States, buy more energy from that country, and increase its defense spending to more than three percent of GDP.