U.S. President Trump welcomes Azerbaijan President Aliyev to the White House
U.S. President Donald Trump personally welcomed Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev at the White House today, ahead of a historic peace signing cere...
Taiwanese semiconductor company Vanguard International Semiconductor has cautioned that U.S. tariffs on imported chips could trigger inflation and hamper global economic growth, though the firm expects any direct impact on its business to be minimal.
Speaking on a post-earnings call, Vanguard Chairman Leuh Fang adopted a “wait and see” approach amid uncertainty over how far the Trump administration will pursue its tariff threats. Last week, President Donald Trump announced plans to impose around 25% tariffs on auto imports as well as similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical products - a move that could disrupt international trade flows.
"If tariffs are implemented... it will cause many impacts, from inflation to a decline in end-product purchasing power, and even affect expected economic growth," Fang told analysts. However, he added that Vanguard’s exposure is limited since the company manufactures legacy, or mature node chips used primarily in cars and display panels. “The proportion of our company’s semiconductor products directly exported to the U.S. and facing tariffs is very low,” he said.
The announcement comes as tensions between the U.S. and China continue to shape the global semiconductor market. Amid aggressive capacity expansion and steep price cuts by Chinese foundries, many American customers have begun shifting orders to Taiwanese suppliers- a trend that Fang expects will intensify.
In related news, industry rival TSMC is building chip factories in Arizona, while several Taiwanese laptop and AI server makers are also considering moves to expand U.S. production to circumvent potential tariff impacts. Notably, TSMC owns 27.15% of Vanguard’s shares, underlining the interconnected nature of the regional supply chain.
For the quarter ended December 31, Vanguard posted a 19.4% year-on-year increase in revenue to T$11.55 billion ($352 million) and a 48.7% jump in gross profit to T$3.314 billion, reflecting strong performance despite the broader market uncertainties.
As the global semiconductor industry braces for possible trade disruptions, Vanguard’s cautious outlook underscores the complex interplay between tariff policies, inflationary pressures, and shifting supply chains in an increasingly volatile economic environment.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send an upgraded ‘version 3.0’ free-trade agreement to their heads of government for approval in October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday after regional talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
Chinese automaker Chery has denied an industry-ministry audit that disqualified more than $53 million in state incentives for thousands of its electric and hybrid vehicles, insisting it followed official guidance and committed no fraud.
Scientists have discovered previously unknown communities of deep-sea creatures that survive by converting chemicals into energy, rather than feeding on organic matter, during dives into two of the Pacific Ocean’s deepest trenches.
The acting chief of the U.S. space agency NASA is expected to unveil a directive this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030, according to U.S. media reports, as the United States seeks to strengthen its space presence amid growing competition from China and Russia.
Scientists in Norway have uncovered remains of more than 40 species from around 75,000 years ago, shedding new light on Ice Age life in Scandinavia.
Türkiye’s first domestically produced electric SUV, the Togg T10X, is expected to hit the German market by the end of 2025, German daily Bild reported.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, sending an international crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s Crew-11 mission.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment