CHOKE POINT FOR CHINA

IS THE TAIWANESE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY - A SECURITY GUARANTEE FOR THE ISLAND OR JUST ANOTHER INCENTIVE FOR BEIJING TO CLAIM IT FOR ITS OWN?

- by Kerry Brown

GIVEN THE MANY DISTRACTING ONGOING WARS AROUND THE GLOBE CURRENTLY, GEOPOLITICAL experts worry that China may seize the opportunity to take over Taiwan, a former province of China, which Beijing insists is part of “One China.” The invasion of Taiwan—an economic powerhouse where over 90 percent of the world’s superconductors are produced—would set off a global chain reaction, explains Professor of Chinese Studies Kerry Brown in WHY TAIWAN MATTERS: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ISLAND THAT WILL DICTATE OUR FUTURE (St. Martin’s). In this excerpt from his book, Brown shares the genesis of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which produces the “brains of modern electronics.”

'SILICON SHIELD' TSMC's site in Nanjing, Jiangsu, above, and (left to right) its current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei and thenChairman Mark Liu on January 18, 2024.

HSINCHU SCIENCE PARK, SOUTHWEST OF Taipei, Taiwan, is not a scenic spot for tourists to wander around. But on days when the temperature is not so searing that it melts the soles of your shoes and drenches you in sweat if you step outside, or when there are no torrential rains or typhoons to send you scuttling back into the welcome shelter of a taxi, it has a certain kind of serene calm.