Trump notches easy win over Haley in march to Republican nomination

TAIPEI: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te pledged on Friday to talk with the United States about President Donald Trump’s concerns over the chip industry and to increase US investment and buy more from the country, while also spending more on defense.
Trump spoke critically about Taiwan on Thursday, saying he aimed to restore US manufacturing of semiconductor chips and repeating claims about Taiwan having taken away the industry he wanted back in the United States.
Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting of the National Security Council at the presidential office, Lai said that the global semiconductor supply chain is an ecosystem in which the division of work among various countries is important.
“We of course are aware of President Trump’s concerns,” Lai said.
“Taiwan’s government will communicate and discuss with the semiconductor industry and come up with good strategies. Then we will come up with good proposals and engage in further discussions with the United States,” he added.
Democratic countries including the United States should come together to build a global alliance for AI chips and a “democratic supply chain” for advanced chips, Lai said.
“While admittedly we have the advantage in semiconductors, we also see it as Taiwan’s responsibility to contribute to the prosperity of the international community.”
Taiwan is home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, a major supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia, and a crucial part of the developing AI industry.
TSMC is investing $65 billion in new factories in the US state of Arizona, a project begun in 2020 under Trump’s first administration.
TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares closed down 2.8 percent on Friday, underperforming the broader market, which ended off 1.1 percent.
A senior Taiwan security official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely, said if TSMC judged it was feasible to increase its US investment, Taiwan’s government would help in talks with the United States.
TSMC declined to comment.
The official added that communications between Taiwan and US economic, security and defense officials at present was “quite good” and “strong support from the United States can be felt.”

US support
The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but is the democratically governed island’s most important international backer and arms supplier.
Trump cheered Taiwan last week after a joint US-Japan statement following Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s visit to Washington called for “maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” and voiced support for “Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.”
But Taiwan also runs a large trade surplus with the United States, which surged 83 percent last year, with the island’s exports to the US hitting a record $111.4 billion, driven by demand for high-tech products such as semiconductors.
Lai said that the United States is Taiwan’s largest foreign investment destination and that Taiwan is the United States’ most reliable trade partner.
Trump has also previously criticized Taiwan, which faces a growing military threat from China, for not spending enough on defense, a criticism he has made of many US allies.
“Taiwan must demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves,” Lai said, adding his government is working to propose a special budget this year to boost defense spending from 2.5 percent of its GDP to 3 percent.
His government is involved in a standoff with parliament, where opposition parties hold a majority, over cuts to the budget, including defense spending.
“Certainly, more and more friends and allies have expressed concern to us, worried whether Taiwan’s determination for its self-defense has weakened,” Lai said.

SAN FRANCISCO: OpenAI says its board of directors has unanimously rejected a $97.4 billion takeover bid by Elon Musk.
“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” said a statement Friday from Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI’s board.
OpenAI attorney William Savitt in a letter to Musk’s attorney Friday said the proposal “is not in the best interests of OAI’s mission and is rejected.”
Musk, an early OpenAI investor, began a legal offensive against the ChatGPT maker nearly a year ago, suing for breach of contract over what he said was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit.
OpenAI has increasingly sought to capitalize on the commercial success of generative AI. But the for-profit company is a subsidiary of a nonprofit entity that’s bound to a mission — which Musk helped set — to safely build better-than-human AI for humanity’s benefit. OpenAI is now seeking to more fully convert itself to a for-profit company, but would first have to buy out the nonprofit’s assets.
Throwing a wrench in those plans, Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a group of investment firms announced a bid Monday to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. Musk in a court filing Wednesday further detailed the proposal to acquire the nonprofit’s controlling stake.
Savitt’s letter Friday said that court filing added “new material conditions to the proposal. As a result of that filing, it is now apparent that your clients’ much-publicized ‘bid’ is in fact not a bid at all.” In any event, “even as first presented,” the board has unanimously rejected it, Savitt said.
Musk has alleged in the lawsuit that OpenAI is violating the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, his lawyer has said.
He escalated the legal dispute late last year, adding new claims and defendants, including OpenAI’s business partner Microsoft, and asking for a court order that would halt OpenAI’s for-profit conversion. Musk also added xAI as a plaintiff, claiming that OpenAI was also unfairly stifling business competition. A judge is still considering Musk’s request but expressed skepticism about some of his claims in a court hearing last week.