Taiwan foreign minister visits US, Arizona for opening of new trade office
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego in January met with Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung in Taipei, further cementing relations between our two cultures, socially and economically. Chia-lung arrived in Phoenix Sunday for the opening of the new Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.
MAP Strategies Group
Despite not having formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the U.S. and Arizona welcomed Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung Sunday for the opening of what amounts to a new de facto consulate in Phoenix, home of leading semiconductor maker TSMC.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said the new office in Phoenix marks a "milestone in Taiwan-US economic and trade partnership," Reuters reports. Taiwan-based TSMC has invested $265 billion to date in Arizona.
With the addition of the Phoenix office, Taiwan will have 14 representative offices across the United States, including locations in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Chicago, Honolulu, Denver, Miami, Guam, and now Phoenix.
Once operational, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in downtown Phoenix will strengthen Taiwan’s ties with the governments of Arizona and the City of Phoenix, respond more effectively to the investment and operational needs of Taiwanese businesses, and promote bilateral cooperation in areas including trade, technology, supply chains, education and culture, and people-to-people exchanges.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that once the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Phoenix is established, it will also provide more convenient consular services to Taiwanese expatriates, businesspeople, and other Taiwanese nationals living in Arizona and New Mexico, Taipei Times reports. The ministry said it would continue to link diplomacy, trade and economics and industry, deepening the mutually "beneficial and symbiotic partnership between Taiwan and the United States based on mutual trust."
In 2020, TSMC chose Phoenix, Arizona, for its first advanced U.S. semiconductor manufacturing site — a milestone investment that has expanded from $12 billion to $265 billion – representing the largest foreign direct investment in a greenfield project in American history. Current plans underway in Arizona include six semiconductor logic wafer fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and an R&D center.
In January, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego deepened cultural and economic ties with Taiwan during a visit to Taipei, laying the ground work for the office opening. The Mayor and her delegation were greeted by Minister Chia-lung, who hosted an elaborate banquet in her honor.
The Phoenix delegation met with Taiwan President William Lai and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, and visited representatives from Tainan City and Taipei, held information exchanges with representatives of Taiwan’s high-tech industries, and discussed bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Taipei also is an international Sister City with the City of Phoenix.
In July 2026, TSMC announced intent to build several more semiconductor logic wafer fabs for 2-nanometer and below technologies, as well as advanced packaging fabs, to support strong US customer demand. This total investment will strengthen America’s leadership in critical technologies like AI, high-performance computing, and advanced mobile applications.
Earlier this year, the company started initial stages of construction on the Fourth Fab and First Advanced Packaging Fab.