Recently, the bigwigs in the technology industry on Taiwan’s island have basically stood opposite to the mainland. Among them, TSMC, the leading company in Taiwan's semiconductor field, is currently the chairman of Liu Deyin once bluntly said: "No one can control TSMC by force." . The founder of Acer Group . . Shi Zhenrong. said: "After Taiwan is blocked, chips cannot be exported, and the world will be shut down." Now, the chief tycoon of the technology industry on Taiwan, . Zhang Zhongmou. has also stood up and expressed concern about cross-strait relations. His views are similar to Shi Zhenrong. They are both worried that cross-strait conflicts will lead to the shutdown of Taiwan's semiconductor industry and cause major losses in the world. Zhang Zhongmou also expressed concern about the TSMC, which he created first and said bluntly: "If the mainland attacks Taiwan, TSMC will be destroyed and everything will be destroyed." In fact, the Americans have long been hinting at this situation. Once the war in the Taiwan Strait begins, the United States will even take the lead in blowing up TSMC. I will tell you what the specific situation is.
Zhang Zhongmou
The dilemma of Taiwan's science and technology industry
Most of Taiwan's semiconductor technology industries are core technologies obtained from the United States. Only with the policy and financial support of the Chiang Kai-shek period and the unique hardworking character of the Chinese people, can the semiconductor industry on Taiwan's island flourish. However, the power of the United States has been continuously deepening into Taiwan's semiconductor field in the past four decades of development. The founder of Taiwan Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Zhang Zhongmou, has worked in the United States for more than 20 years. Cao Xingcheng, former chairman of Lianhua Electronics, was sent to the United States to learn semiconductor technology. Acer Group founder Shi Zhenrong hired foreign executives to helm the company all year round. The only large technology company on the island that starts from scratch and is born and raised may be the only one that mainly engages in chip foundry Hon Hai Group . When China-US relations are in a honeymoon period, these technology companies have also carried out in-depth and good cooperation with the mainland. But when Sino-US relations deteriorate, Taiwan's technology companies will turn to the US camp. This is not a matter of ethnicity and blood, but a real economic and interest issue. Taiwan's technology companies have long been the ATMs of American capital.
TSMC
Zhang Zhongmou, like Cao Xingcheng, are children of other provinces. He was born in Yin County, Zhejiang in 1931. His father Zhang Weiguan was the director of the Finance Department of Yin County. Zhejiang is the hometown and base of Chiang Kai-shek. It is not only economically developed, but also officials at all levels are full of mind and rich. Although Zhang Weiguan is only the Director of Finance, he has already established an industry in Hong Kong. In 1937, the Zhang family moved to Guangzhou and then went to Hong Kong. After the Japanese army occupied Hong Kong, Zhang Zhongmou was sent to Chongqing. It was in , Chongqing Nankai Middle School, that Zhang Zhongmou spent his junior high school years at . It was not until the Zhang family won the Anti-Japanese War that they went to Shanghai to settle down. However, the situation is turbulent. During the War of Liberation, the Zhang family was once again affected by the war. In 1948, the whole family was forced to return to Hong Kong again. Zhang Zhongmou also left the mainland since then. He first completed his middle school studies at Peiying Middle School in Hong Kong, and later went to Harvard University in the United States. In 1950, Zhang Zhongmou transferred to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT , and obtained a bachelor's and master's degrees. In 1964, Zhang Zhongmou graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and officially entered the field of semiconductors.
Zhang Zhongmou founded TSMC
Zhang Zhongmou successively worked in technology groups such as Civania, Texas Instruments , General Instruments, and only returned to Taiwan in 1985. With the strong support of political leaders such as Jiang Ching-kuo and Sun Yun-chi, TSMC was able to come into being. The Kuomintang initially also owned a lot of shares in TSMC, and Chiang Ching-kuo and his confidants even took out the Kuomintang’s party assets to inject funds into TSMC. These include Taiwan Development Fund, Kuomintang Investment Company and major public public institutions . They took out more than US$70 million and became the largest shareholder, accounting for 48.7% of the shares. It is precisely because of the strong support of Taiwan’s official island that TSMC can successfully overcome the bottleneck of product research and development and become a leading company on the island. High investment naturally leads to high output. After TSMC went public in 1994, its stock price soared to an initially unimaginable level in 20 years. The original shareholders naturally made a lot of money. In today's Taiwanese society, if you hold the original shares of TSMC, it is the true symbol of wealth.
TSMC has been controlled by US capital
With the development of TSMC, share distribution has changed drastically. In 2001, the Taiwan Development Fund, the original largest shareholder, had only 12% of its shares, becoming the second largest shareholder. Today, TSMC has become the object of control by foreign capital. In 2020, TSMC's shares constituted a shareholding of 78.48% of Chinese and foreign institutions and foreigners. Eight of the top ten shareholders of are foreign capital. The largest shareholder ranked first is Citi custody TSMC depositary receipt special account, with a shareholding ratio of 20.52%. , and Taiwan's official official owns only 6.38% of the shares, ranking second. It can be said that TSMC is already a foreign company, and this situation has been formed during the period when Zhang Zhongmou was in charge. So it is not surprising that Zhang Zhongmou is in the camp of Western forces between the Sino-US game, because his interests have long been firmly bound to Western forces such as the United States, and they will lose both losses and prosper together. is not only TSMC, but all other technology companies are facing such a dilemma. If they take sides in the mainland, before unification is realized, they will inevitably face strong oppression from the United States and the Democratic Progressive Party on the island, and the turn will naturally be inevitable. Who exactly wants to destroy TSMC
The mainland still adheres to the policy of "peaceful reunification". In addition to Taiwan's semiconductors, it also cares about the bloody family ties between the mainland and Taiwan. Zhang Zhongmou also said, "If a war breaks out, TSMC will be destroyed and everything will not escape being destroyed." But ironically, it is the Americans who really want to destroy TSMC. Zhang Zhongmou knows this, but he has to lean on the side of the United States.
US TSMC branch
In January 2022, the US military magazine "Guidelines" published an article advocating in public that the United States would carry out the " scorched earth policy " in Taiwan, using the blow up TSMC as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the mainland, forcing the mainland to give up the great cause of unifying Taiwan. Recently, Western media have vigorously promoted the need to take away all Taiwan engineers when the war between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait begins, so that the mainland cannot control Taiwan's semiconductor industry. In fact, this strategy has been brewing within the United States for more than ten years. Since the mainland's high-tech industry has conducted in-depth cooperation with TSMC, the United States has repeatedly interfered with it. In November 2009, TSMC's lawsuit against mainland companies was staged in the United States, and the United States has repeatedly poached talents from TSMC. In 2016, TSMC's US design director Ken Geerry was poached by Grossfield Semiconductor Corporation of the United States. In 2021, the United States also asked TSMC to hand over all customer information and order details, with the reason that it may endanger US security. Americans are eyeing TSMC, and recently forced TSMC to transfer a large number of equipment to a new factory in Arizona, USA. Its intention to hollow out TSMC is already very obvious.
TSMC's current chairman Liu Deyin
The United States values TSMC's talent resources and semiconductor industry chain, but they don't know that the reason why this industrial chain can be smooth is because of the diligence and hard work of the Chinese. This environment does not exist in the United States. Therefore, Zhang Zhongmou once strongly opposed the transfer of important TSMC equipment to the United States. However, with TSMC's current chairman Liu Deyin, Cao Xingcheng, who once shared the semiconductor industry with Zhang Zhongmou, turned to the United States and the Democratic Progressive Party. If Zhang Zhongmou does not express his opinion, then his position will be very embarrassing. TSMC seems to be the amulet of Taiwan Island , but in the context of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, TSMC's status is actually not that important. The DPP continues to exaggerate TSMC's important position and attempts to use TSMC as its chip shield to make the mainland afraid of it. However, mainland chip companies have already caught up in the semiconductor field and have formed a certain degree of competitive relationship with Taiwan's semiconductor industry. Although the mainland still has shortcomings in the cutting-edge fields, if TSMC really transfers to the United States, it should be a big question whether this advantage will continue.
Semiconductor industry
The most valuable asset on Taiwan’s island is the semiconductor industry chain. An already mature industrial chain is imbued with the efforts of generations of Taiwan. This is China’s precious technological wealth, and we cannot give up easily. Zhang Zhongmou and others have doubts about the future. We might as well make sure of their aftermath in advance and beware of Americans taking advantage of the situation. Taiwan issue has always been a problem of China's internal affairs. As long as we work actively and dispel the concerns of the science and technology industry on the island, there is still a possibility of seeking the initiative. It is not easy for the United States to plunder a whole production line, but history has not left us much time. Instead of being passively restrained, is better to take the initiative. The mainland should now play a more active role between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and strive to seize the opportunity to resolve the Taiwan issue in one fell swoop. I believe that with the addition of Taiwan's semiconductor industry, China will definitely surpass the United States.
