Invading Taiwan to get their hands on the founder TSMC? Bad idea

The move to Asia Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is making noise. The hypothesis of a visit to taiwan led China to be very offensive in its declarations and to hint at the possibility of a show of force which would lead it to militarily invade the island which it claims more and more openly and directly.

The American personality will ultimately not visit the Taiwanese authorities, but tensions remain high and a military operation seems to be less and less to be excluded, like the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Beyond geopolitics, Taiwan is also a major geostrategic issue for industry with the presence of the founder TSMCworld leader in the production of the most advanced electronic chips.

With US sanctions blocking Chinese companies’ access to chip production equipment, it could be tempting for China to get its hands on such a player and save itself years of investment and research to catch up. delay.

A lose-lose-lose scenario

In a rare comment on the current tense situation, TSMC President Mark Liu pointed out in an interview with CNN that “no one can control TSMC by force“.

He points out that a military operation with the occupation of the foundry’s production sites would only render them inoperative. These state-of-the-art factories require real-time resources and links from different parts of the world and are unable to operate on their own.

Everything would stop as soon as the Asian, European and American partners ceased their collaboration. And if TSMC has sites outside the island, it is in Taiwan that the finest engravings are produced in 3 nm and soon in 2 nm.

Mark Liu also notes that this would lead to a triple losing situation: for the two opposing parties but also for each other’s allies. Disruption or cessation of chip production by TSMC would have huge consequences on the global economy and nothing and no one could offset it in the short to medium term.