In March, U.S. President Donald Trump and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s C. C. Wei walked into the White House's Roosevelt Room to unveil one of the largest foreign investments in U.S. history: a $100 billion bet that high-end chips can be made, once again, in the United States.

For Trump, it was a moment to savor on the 43rd day back in office. For Richard Lee, watching almost 13,000 kilometers away, it was a call to action.

"We didn’t put the United States as the first priority. Now we need to put United States as the first and foremost priority,” said Lee, chairman of the trade association that represents Taiwan’s biggest manufacturers.