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Proposed 60% tariffs would take aim at China

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Taiwanese companies have invested billions there

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Texas seen as possible location

By Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Taiwanese contract laptop

makers Compal and Inventec may expand into

the United States with Texas eyed as one of the top locations,

their executives say, as they prepare for President-elect Donald

Trump's threatened tariffs.

Trump, who is set to become U.S. president again on Monday,

has rattled companies and authorities around the world by vowing

to impose tariffs of 10% on global imports into the U.S. -

duties that trade experts say would upend trade flows, raise

costs and draw retaliation against U.S. exports.

His threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico, in particular, has

worried several Taiwanese companies, as many have invested in

domestic manufacturing to build components that go into electric

vehicle to artificial intelligence (AI) servers for North

America.

Speaking to reporters before the company's annual year-end

party this month, Anthony Peter Bonadero, President and CEO of

Compal, said that they had spoken to several southern U.S.

states about possible investment and were seeing how Trump's

tariffs against Mexico unfold.

"Texas is a leading candidate just because of the power that

they've done. Samsung is putting a giant fab in, and that's

created a lot of extra power and infrastructure there. Texas is

the only state in the U.S. that has its own grid. And so, we

continue to evaluate that. But no decisions have been made yet."

Jack Tsai, president of Inventec, which makes AI servers

that use Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips, also told reporters this month

that they had started evaluating locations for investment in the

U.S and were also favouring Texas for its proximity to Mexico

and power infrastructure.

But, "if tariffs are indeed imposed today, it is unlikely

they will be imposed everywhere at once. We need to see what

decisions Trump makes after taking office to react accordingly,"

he told reporters ahead of the company's year-end party.

Trump says he also plans to impose tariffs of 60% on U.S.

imports of goods from China, where Taiwanese companies have

invested billions of dollars over the past four decade.

Taiwan's economy minister said in November the government would

help companies relocate production from China.

Wistron ( WICOF ), which produces computers and AI servers,

has been expanding production capacity outside of China into

places such as Mexico, Vietnam and Texas, and its chairman,

Simon Lin, said they believed their U.S. operations were

sufficiently prepared to handle any changes.

"In the foreseeable future, our activities will be more

focused outside of China," Lin added.