TAIPEI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - There is no need for one

country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex

and needs a division of labour, Taiwan's top technology official

said on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump criticised

the island's chip dominance.

Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the

industry and he wanted back in the United States, saying he

aimed to restore U.S. chip manufacturing.

Wu Cheng-wen, head of Taiwan's National Science and

Technology Council, did not name Trump in a Facebook post but

referred to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's comments on Friday

that the island would be a reliable partner in the democratic

supply chain of the global semiconductor industry.

Wu wrote that Taiwan has in recent years often been asked

how its semiconductor industry had become an internationally

acclaimed benchmark.

"How did we achieve this? Obviously, we did not gain this

for no reason from other countries," he said, recounting how the

government developed the sector from the 1970s, including

helping found TSMC, now the world's largest contract

chipmaker, in 1987.

"This shows that Taiwan has invested half a century of hard

work to achieve today's success, and it certainly wasn't

something taken easily from other countries."

Each country has its own speciality for chips, from Japan

making chemicals and equipment to the United States, which is

"second to none" on the design and application of innovative

systems, Wu said.

"The semiconductor industry is highly complex and requires

precise specialisation and division of labour. Given that each

country has its own unique industrial strengths, there is no

need for a single nation to fully control or monopolise all

technologies globally."

Taiwan is willing to be used as a base to assist "friendly

democratic countries" in playing their appropriate roles in the

semiconductor supply chain, Wu said.