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By Wen-Yee Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwanese electronics companies are planning more investments in the U.S. state of Texas, with announcements possible in May to coincide with President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, the head of an industry body said on Tuesday.
Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, has lambasted Taiwan for taking U.S. semiconductor business, and has also threatened import tariffs on trading partners with which the United States runs large trade deficits, which could target Taiwan.
Last week, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te pledged more investment in the United States.
Richard Lee, chairman of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association, told an event in Taipei that the government of Republican-led Texas has been proactive about attracting investment from Taiwanese companies.
"We expect that this year, especially in the first 100 days of Trump's presidency, that's about May 10, there should be a much larger number of our large server companies, especially for AI servers, announcing that they're going to be expanding their investments in Texas," Lee said, without naming any companies.
"A lot of them have factories in Texas, but the factories in the past weren't big enough to face the significant growth of AI-related businesses in the future, so this is an opportunity," he added.
Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia, said in November one of its subsidiaries had spent $33 million to acquire land and factory buildings in Harris County, Texas.
Taiwanese contract laptop makers Compal and Inventec - which also makes AI servers - may expand into the United States with Texas eyed as one of the top locations, their executives said last month.
Inventec declined to comment on whether it might make announcements in May about Texas investments. Foxconn and Compal did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Helen Popper)
