Key facts
- Elon Musk warned Donald Trump about US vulnerability due to Taiwan's chip production dominance.
- Musk expressed alarm over the potential impact of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan on chip supply.
- He urged the construction of fabrication plants outside "the zone of confrontation."
- Trump cited assurances from Xi Jinping regarding Taiwan but acknowledged potential deception.
- Discussions involved shifting semiconductor manufacturing to the US.
Elon Musk expressed significant anxiety to Donald Trump regarding the United States' vulnerability stemming from Taiwan's dominance in semiconductor manufacturing and the potential repercussions of a Chinese invasion, according to a new book.
In a March 10, 2025, meeting at the White House with Trump and other tech CEOs, Musk reportedly stated he was "shitting bricks about our vulnerability to China." He emphasized that Taiwan produces approximately 70 percent of the world's semiconductors and 90 percent of the most advanced chips, warning that "if we don't start building chips outside the zone of confrontation, we are headed for disaster."
The book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, details that Trump had received assurances from Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Beijing would not invade Taiwan during his presidency. However, Trump reportedly added a caveat, noting that Xi "could be lying."
During the meeting, CEOs, including those from Dell, Qualcomm, and Intel, discussed strategies to reclaim parts of the global semiconductor supply chain and relocate factories to the US. Musk highlighted that the US would only possess 30 percent of TSMC's capacity by 2029, predicting economic collapse if China were to invade Taiwan.
In May, Musk, along with other tech leaders like Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Tim Cook of Apple, accompanied Trump on a visit to China. Musk was seen as a potential mediator for stabilizing economic relations between Beijing and Washington, particularly given Tesla's wholly-owned Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai.