Opinion | As the US struggles with affordability, consumer confidence eludes China

One of the most resonant words in the United States today is “affordability”. From rent and utilities to groceries and medical bills, prices seem to keep climbing. The term has helped Democrats win a string of local elections. It has also become a favourite target of US President Donald Trump. At a rally in Pennsylvania last month, the US president dismissed talk of affordability as a Democratic “hoax”.

That stance came months after Trump revived the threat of sweeping tariffs, declared “Liberation Day” and vowed to restore factories to American soil. The vision was intoxicating: new plants rising, assembly lines humming and blue-collar workers reclaiming dignity amid the roar of machines – “Made in America”, reborn.

But the first global heavyweight to truly test that promise, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has found the reality far less romantic. In the desert north of Phoenix, Arizona, TSMC is building a vast manufacturing complex larger than New York’s Central Park. Heat and aridity are only part of the challenge. More daunting is the maze of unfamiliar rules and approvals.

Projects that could be launched in Taiwan once a single key permit was secured now require negotiations with municipal, county, state and federal authorities. TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei has said the company had to establish around 18,000 rules from scratch, at a cost of US$35 million.

This is no longer just a business investment. It resembles a large and expensive social experiment, asking what happens when a highly mature industrial culture is transplanted into a very different institutional and social ecosystem.

The US has only recently begun to build mega-factories after decades of decline. To get its intricate chipmaking operations running, TSMC has had to bring in experienced engineers and technicians from Taiwan. For their families, it means a major change in lifestyle. For local communities, it has become an uneasy process of cultural adjustment.