Taiwan’s Inventec to invest up to $85 million in US to lessen tariff impact

Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Inventec has agreed to invest up to $85 million to build manufacturing facilities in Texas to help mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs, it said on Monday.

In a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange, the company said that its U.S. subsidiary would look for "suitable production" plants in the southwestern U.S. state.

The plan has been agreed upon by the board to "meet customer shipment location requirements, actively pursue new customers and markets, and mitigate the impact of fluctuations in U.S. tariff policies," the company said in its short statement.

It did not elaborate.

The company is a contract maker of notebooks as well as AI servers that use Nvidia chips.

Inventec President Jack Tsai said in January that the company had started evaluating locations for investment in the United States and was favouring Texas for its proximity to Mexico and power infrastructure.

Taiwan had been due to be hit with a 32% tariff under U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for import taxes on all countries, until he hit the pause button for 90 days earlier this month.

Taiwan's government has repeatedly said it will help its companies invest more in the United States, and buy more goods from the country, to help reduce the island's yawning trade surplus.