On Saturday, Japan's top trade official said the country's new $550 billion investment package with the U.S. could help finance Taiwanese chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ( TSM ) as they build semiconductor plants in America.

What Happened: Japan's chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa told public broadcaster NHK that Tokyo's sweeping U.S.-bound investment initiative could extend to foreign firms as long as their work supports Japan's supply chain goals, reported Reuters.

"For example, if a Taiwanese chipmaker builds a plant in the U.S. and uses Japanese components or tailors its products to meet Japanese needs, that's fine too," Akazawa said, without mentioning any specific firms.

He also addressed a White House statement saying the U.S. would retain 90% of returns, explaining this referred only to the equity portion and would not significantly reduce Japan's overall benefit.

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Why It's Important: TSMC, the leading contract chipmaker globally and a crucial supplier for Nvidia Corporation ( NVDA ) and Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) , has already pledged $165 billion in U.S. investments—$100 billion of which was announced alongside President Donald Trump.

The U.S. heavily depends on TSMC for advanced semiconductor production, which has sparked economic security concerns given Taiwan’s close geographic location to China, the report said.

TSMC has also been accelerating its growth in Arizona. The company aims to start operations at a second facility by 2027 and anticipates that up to 30% of its advanced 2nm chip production could ultimately be based in its Arizona plants.

However, last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cautioned that TSMC's large Arizona chip plant might only meet 7% of U.S. semiconductor demand, pointing to regulatory challenges as a major barrier to expanding domestic production.

Meanwhile, economist Justin Wolfers has argued that Trump’s trade deal with Japan effectively acts as a tax hike on American consumers. He also expressed doubt that the deal would significantly benefit U.S. automakers, citing Japanese consumers' preference for smaller cars.

Price Action: TSMC shares have risen 21.84% so far this year and 53.49% over the past 12 months, according to Benzinga Pro.

Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that TSMC continues to show strong upward momentum across short, medium, and long-term timeframes. Additional performance data is available here.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.