[Text/Observer Network Tong Li] Global chip supply is tightening, and some "independence" on the island will use TSMC as a bargaining chip to "refusing to unify". But now they are panicked because this so-called "island protection mountain" may be moved to the United States.
asked Taiwanese media, "If the mainland comes to fight in the future, will the United States not come to protect Taiwan?" However, the American Association in Taiwan (AIT) replied this week: "Don't treat TSMC as Taiwan's only security backer." In addition to the lack of a positive answer, "Will Taiwan be protected?", he also seemed to be comforting, but in fact he was "spraying cold water".
Taiwan media video screenshot
On May 22, the "American Association in Taiwan" (AIT) was the "Deputy Director" Gu Liyan ((Raymond)) on the social media platform. Greene) was interviewed by a warm-up interview with Taiwan’s political commentary program. In the program, he talked with Akio Yadai, the Taipei Branch Director of the Japanese Sankei News, and others about the epidemic, the US pig and TSMC factory planning.
The wife of this American diplomat is from Taiwan. He is proficient in Chinese and Japanese. He is specialized in East Asia affairs in the US State Department. He has been stationed in the mainland and Japan, and served as the US Consul General in Chengdu.
program trailer shows that Gu Liyan emphasized during the period that the United States is very concerned about the current epidemic in Taiwan and "is very concerned about Taiwan's demand for assistance."
and Taipei Mayor Ke Wen-je HTML pointed out on the 319th that the United States has not sold any vaccine to Taiwan so far. Although Taiwan has confirmed that it has received 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine from the United States, according to the procurement contract, the Moderna vaccine will arrive at least until June.
Speaking of the huge controversial American pigs on the island, Gu Liyan questioned the actual commercial benefits brought by Taiwan's import of American pigs. He said that Taiwan's imports will not increase sales of American pigs, which is mainly to show the United States that the DPP authorities "keep their promises."
video screenshot
In addition, Taiwan media is also "worrying" about Taiwan's semiconductor industry. The host of
program asked: "Some people in Taiwan will be worried that Taiwan's so-called "island-protecting sacred mountains" have moved to the United States. If the mainland comes to fight Taiwan in the future, will the United States not come to protect Taiwan?"
video screenshot In the preview of
, Gu Liyan did not directly answer "Will the United States protect Taiwan?", saying that he welcomed TSMC to invest in the United States very much, and "I think (investment) will definitely not affect Taiwan's security. And his next words may disappoint the DPP authorities.
He reminded Taiwan, "Don't treat TSMC as Taiwan's only security backer", and then declared, "We have noticed that the mainland is willing to give up its economic interests to achieve political goals."
Since US President Biden put forward the argument that "chips are also infrastructure", the United States has The government has begun to use both soft and hard work to overseas chip foundry giants such as TSMC and Samsung . On the one hand, White House held two meetings to "cald" all companies to support the chip manufacturing industry in the United States. On the other hand, the president has successively issued tens of billions of subsidies to attract companies to build factories.
According to Reuters on May 14, a person familiar with the matter said that TSMC is considering building a high-end chip foundry with a 3-nanometer process in Arizona, USA. If it comes true, this will be the first time TSMC has built a high-end chip production line outside its home country.
TSMC announced last year that it would invest $10-12 billion to build an OEM factory in the state capital of , Arizona, Phoenix , but it was reported that it was only the first factory TSMC plans to build in the region, using a 5-nanometer process production line, and other OEM factories will be launched in the future, up to 5. The report pointed out that details of TSMC's construction of more factories in the state have never been reported before.
In January this year, Western media reported that in view of the current bottleneck in the supply of chips used in the automotive industry, companies such as the United States, Europe, and Japan have requested the help of TSMC, a major chip manufacturer. Bloomberg commented on this, saying that "the global dependence on Taiwan's semiconductors has reached a dangerous level", and government leaders "are very much in need of Taiwan to maintain democracy."The article also quoted Matthew Duchart, head of the Asia project at the Montaigne Institute in Paris, saying that Taiwan has great strategic value in the global chip supply chain, which is also the main reason why Taiwan can "prevent mainland invasion."
In this regard, Chen Jing, a columnist of Observer Network , admitted on the one hand that TSMC has reached its peak position in the industry, with a market share of more than 50%, and its technological leading advantage in chip manufacturing is very obvious. But he also pointed out that the rise of Taiwan's semiconductor industry has both the vision and efforts of business operators, and is also the result of the global industrial division of labor and layout adjustment. Taiwan is in great need of stability and cooperation between the upstream and downstream of the global chip industry chain, and its risk resistance is almost the worst among all participants.
Chen Jing even interpreted TSMC's plan to set up a factory in the United States: Americans cannot base the security of the industrial chain on the assumption that "the mainland faces the restraint of Taiwan independence", and it is even more impossible to "assist in defense" Taiwan's chip supply chain security as the "Taiwan independence" forces imagine. It is a natural action to arrange TSMC's production capacity to the United States, or to cultivate other chip foundry companies through technology and market methods.
This way, Gu Liyan's answer became even more interesting.
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