Taiwan touts $900 million in new business from Silicon Valley meetings

Taiwan’s economy minister has drummed up new business worth T$30 billion ($940 million) in meetings with top executives at four major tech firms in California’s Silicon Valley, the ministry said on Saturday.

Wang Mei-hua has been in the United States all week to respond to what her office has called “concerns” about supply chains and geopolitical issues.

Taiwan is a major semiconductor producer, home to the world’s largest contract chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (2330.TW), and supplies most the world’s major tech firms.

The island’s position as a producer has prompted worries in the United States it is too reliant on Taiwan, especially as China ramps up military drills to assert its sovereignty claims.

Wang met executives on Friday from NVIDIA Corp (NVDA.O), Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O), Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O) and Synopsys Inc (SNPS.O), the ministry said in a statement, adding that she “got great interest” from them.

“The visits are expected to bring back US research and development investment and orders in Taiwan worth more than T$30 billion,” it said, without elaborating.

The ministry said Wang met with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson, Cisco senior vice president and global innovation officer Guy Diedrich, and Synopsys chairman and CEO Aart de Geus.

NVIDIA declined to comment on the meeting. The other three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wang said on Tuesday that if Taiwan remains safe, global supply chains of vital semiconductors would also be secure.

($1 = 31.9720 Taiwan dollars)