Washington has spent years talking about bringing chip manufacturing back to the United States.

The argument is familiar by now. America needs secure supply chains. America needs domestic production. America cannot keep relying on foreign manufacturers for the technology that powers its economy, its military, and its future.

But those promises do not mean much if the companies being celebrated as partners are also accused of using American technology without paying for it.

That is the issue now sitting before the U.S. International Trade Commission, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, better known as TSMC, is at the center of a fight that should make Washington a lot less comfortable with its favorite semiconductor success story.

TSMC has been praised for its massive planned investment in Arizona. In March 2025, the company announced another $100 billion for its Phoenix facilities, bringing its total U.S. commitment to roughly $165 billion. Politicians treated the announcement like proof that American chipmaking was finally coming back.

Then TSMC’s leadership returned to Taiwan and reassured officials there that the company’s U.S. expansion would not weaken Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors.

That was the part Washington should have paid attention to.

TSMC may be expanding in America, but it is not moving the center of gravity here.........

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