(Bloomberg) -- A Taiwanese chip company announced a $5 billion investment in the US this week and another is planning a research center in the Midwest. The back-to-back announcements may help allay concerns among American politicians and business leaders that the country is relying too much on Taiwan for production of semiconductors.Most Read from BloombergBezos Slams Biden Over Call for Lowering of Gas PricesUS Court Ruling May Take 70,000 Truckers Off Road, Spur JamsLong, Moderate and Painful:
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., June 28, 2022--Today, global fabless chipmaker MediaTek Inc. announced its very first Midwest semiconductor chip design center in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Taiwan's MediaTek Inc, the world's fourth largest chip designer by revenue, plans to create a new design center in Indiana in partnership with Purdue University, the firm told Reuters. MediaTek, which makes processors for many Android phones and smart speakers, declined to say how much it would invest in its first Midwestern design hub, but said it will receive $1.4 million from the state for the center. "Being in Indiana means we'll have access to some of the best engineering talent in the world,” said Dr. Kou-Hung Lawrence Loh, corporate senior vice president of MediaTek Inc and president of MediaTek USA Inc, in a statement the company plans to release later on Tuesday.