How we got here, and where it is going
The origin. ASU's Taiwan relationships predate the fabs. Faculty collaborations, alumni networks, and academic exchanges have connected ASU and Taiwanese institutions for decades. When TSMC announced Arizona in 2020, the university did not have to start a relationship. It had to scale one.
The present. Today the partnership spans four domains: industry (TSMC, its supplier ecosystem, and Taiwanese companies entering the U.S. market), academia (joint research and degree programs with Taiwan's leading universities), government (engagement with Taiwanese ministries and Arizona's economic development agencies), and people (students, alumni, and the families relocating in both directions).
The ambition. Arizona should not be a place Taiwan invests in. It should be a place Taiwan builds with. The difference is whether the intellectual property, the research leadership, and the next generation of companies emerge here alongside the manufacturing — or somewhere else. ASU exists to make sure it is here, and that Taiwan shares in it.
