Lin Chia-lung, Taiwan’s foreign minister, arrived in Phoenix late on Saturday for a three-day visit, days after President Xi Jinping completed a state visit to the United States and met President Donald Trump.
Lin opened the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Phoenix, a de facto consulate that will become Taiwan’s 14th representative office in the US. Taiwan’s government said the opening symbolised “the Taiwan-US economic and trade partnership moving towards a new milestone”.
The itinerary kept Lin away from Washington and included no meetings with State Department officials. Ingrid Larson, the managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, flew from Washington to accompany him throughout the trip. Lin met Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, who had visited Taiwan in January.
He witnessed a memorandum of understanding between the Arizona Commerce Authority and Taiwan’s National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Association. His business delegation included association members and representatives from artificial intelligence, technology, biomedicine, tourism and finance. The programme also included a visit to a Taiwan artificial intelligence and biomedical display centre.
Lin toured Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s Arizona plant, where TSMC is investing $265 billion to establish semiconductor manufacturing facilities. TSMC remains a key producer of leading-edge chips, including the artificial intelligence accelerators sold by Nvidia and AMD. Taiwan’s government said it would use public-private collaboration to deepen ties with Arizona and New Mexico “in trade, culture, education and supply chains”.
The Arizona investment sits within Trump’s push to bring more chip production to the US and reduce reliance on Taiwan. Trump first tightened controls on advanced chips such as Nvidia’s H200, then allowed Nvidia and AMD to sell some advanced chips to mainland Chinese clients in return for a share of revenue. Top-end Blackwell processors remain restricted.
In May, Trump said he was holding a new arms sales package for Taiwan as a negotiating chip. China has consistently demanded that US arms sales to Taiwan end. The US remains Taiwan’s most important international partner and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.
Xi had openly asked Trump during his US visit to confirm opposition to Taiwan independence. Since TSMC announced its Arizona plant in 2020, more than 200 Taiwanese companies have established plants or operations in the US.
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