One of the reasons TSMC and Intel are looking to do new foundries in different parts of the world is to safeguard the future in case of an invasion by China. Taiwan's history and independence is complicated, but technically it operates independently of China; though is exposed to invasion in the event that the latter want to wage a trade war against the United States.
In the event of this happening, all the connections that Taiwanese companies have with the rest of the world would be severed, as has happened with Russia and Ukraine since the invasion. If it were to happen in Taiwan, the situation would aggravate the production of semiconductors.
TSMC and the production of semiconductors is very sensitive to an invasion of China
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer, building next-generation chips for Apple, AMD, Nvidia and Intel, among others. The loss of TSMC would be very damaging to the semiconductor market.
Mark Liu, President of TSMC; recently spoke with Fareed Zakaria, from the CNN; about the tensions between China, Taiwan and the United States. Liu stated that “no one could control TSMC by force” when talking about a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, because the different factors of TSMC would not be operable if Taiwan was invaded.
This is because requires access to global supply chains and connections to Japan, Europe, and the United States. A Chinese invasion would sever these connections, and as such would prevent TSMC from operating. Beyond that, active warfare could physically damage TSMC facilities.
Speaking to CNN, Mark Liu also stated that China accounts for 10% of TSMC's business, with which it also relies on Taiwanese silicon. TSMC only works to manufacture Chinese consumer products, and knows that an invasion would break this link and hurt the Chinese economy. China buys 90% of its silicon from other countries, and this fact alone makes an invasion of Taiwan is a very hard blow for the Chinese technology sector.
This condition makes TSMC one of the best shields that Taiwan has. It looks like something out of the cinematics of a Hideo Kojima game, but in a war Factors such as collateral damage and consequences are taken into account. economic. China's heavy reliance on TSMC for its tech sector makes a war or invasion difficult and nearly impossible.
Source: Overclok3d
