[The Epoch Times, Rhagfyr 13, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Jiang Feng interviewed and reported) Taiwanese chip company TSMC held a machine-on ceremony at its new plant in Arizona, and current US President Joe Biden personally attended the ceremony. Behind the landing of TSMC in the United States, there is a contest between the United States and China.
“American manufacturing is back,” Biden said in a speech at the new plant on Dec. 6. “What we do in Arizona matters to the country and the world.”
Biden said, “These are the most advanced semiconductor chips in the world, which will provide power for iPhones and MacBook computers. Apple used to buy all the advanced chips from abroad. Now, more of their needs will industrial chain are met domestically. It’s going to be a game changer.”
However, in addition to meeting consumer needs for mobile phones and computers, TSMC has deeper considerations for landing in the United States.
Trump is pushing TSMC to go to the US
TSMC has landed in the United States, and the wish of former US President Trump (Trump) has finally come true. In May 2020, US President Trump said at the time: “We shouldn’t have a supply chain. What we want is for everything to be produced in the United States. “He hopes to bring all supply chains that are scattered around the world back to the United States. States. Persuading TSMC to build a factory in the United States is an important step in his goal.
TSMC is the world’s largest chip foundry. US Secretary of State at the time Pompeo described TSMC’s landing in the US as a “key puzzle”. He believes TSMC chips will be key components in everything from “artificial intelligence to the F-35 fighter jet.”
TSMC accounts for more than half of the global semiconductor market, and in terms of advanced processors, the figure is as high as 90%. TSMC makes most of Apple’s roughly 1.4 billion smartphone processors, as do about 60 percent of the chips used by automakers.
TSMC’s semiconductors are also used in high-performance computing – they can process large amounts of data quickly and guide missiles – making the company extremely valuable in the eyes of the government.
Industry watchers say that if TSMC were to go offline, production of everything from cars to iPhones could come to a screeching halt. Glenn O’Donnell, vice president and director of research at research consultancy Forrester, told Business Insider, “If China[y CCP]attacking Taiwan, that would be the biggest impact on the global economy we’ve ever seen – probably the biggest ever. Impact.”
Biden said four times that he would defend Taiwan by force
In the past year, US President Joe Biden has stated four times that the US will intervene militarily if the CCP launches a large-scale offensive against Taiwan. This breaks with the US’s vague strategy on the Taiwan issue in recent decades.
Carl Schuster, former director of operations for the United States Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, told The Epoch Times on December 9: “For the United States, it (Taiwan) is more strategic. In addition , it is a free entity. , a free country (Republic of China), also geographically important to the national security of the United States. Taiwan is the gateway to the Central Pacific. A freedom-loving country (which’ n guarding the gate) is the entrepreneurial path to all US national security. also important for Asian regional strategy and regional stability in Asia If it falls into the hands of China (the CCP) and is no longer a free country , China (the CCP) can drive straight into the Central Pacific, and from the Central Pacific (to the wider area), it can threaten the trade between Japan and the Philippines, and also undermine security arrangements the United States for East Asia.”
Another reason why Biden has declared four times to defend Taiwan by force is that TSMC plays an important role in the US economy and military.
Martijn Rasser, a former senior intelligence officer and analyst at the CIA, told Reuters: “Washington’s biggest concern is the possibility that Beijing will control Taiwan’s semiconductor production capacity.” (weapon) a platform to deliver a devastating blow.”
A senior Pentagon official told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on December 8 that the Biden administration believes there is a need to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, and that Taiwan’s semiconductors are a key reason why Taiwan’s security is “so important to the United States . “
An important use of semiconductors in the military is in weapons artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence enables machines to outperform humans in solving problems and making decisions. It promises to revolutionize warfare, and it relies on semiconductors.
In a report to the US Congress in March, the bipartisan National Commission on AI Security warned that the “vast majority of advanced chips” produced in Taiwan were far from a “major strategic competitor” of the US. The “main strategic competitor” refers to the Chinese Communist Party.
At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this year, the amendment to the party constitution was passed, including the opposition and limitation of “Taiwan independence” and other content included in the party constitution. At the same time, Xi Jinping also claimed to members of the Chinese Communist Party that “the complete reunification of the motherland” must be achieved. In addition, in the latest Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, the “Taiwan Strait Gang” which has experienced many years in the Eastern Theater of the Communist Party of China has been promoted exceptionally. All these are considered to suggest that the CCP may take action against Taiwan.
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said on October 17 that the Chinese authorities were “significantly accelerating” their plan to annex Taiwan. On October 19, US Naval Operations Chief Michael Gilday also warned that the CCP may attack Taiwan by force before 2024. Once the CCP successfully invades Taiwan, TSMC will be in its pocket.
In a report to Congress, the bipartisan National Commission on Artificial Intelligence Security warned: “If a potential long-term adversary outperforms the United States in semiconductors, or cuts America’s access to cutting-edge chips suddenly and completely, he could benefit. ground in every field of warfare.” They all prevail.”
The CCP covets TSMC
The CCP’s economic and military development also urgently needs semiconductors. According to an October 2020 report by the US Congressional Research Service, China accounts for 60% of the world’s semiconductor demand. More than 90 percent of semiconductors used in China are imported or produced locally by foreign suppliers, the report said. In the first quarter of this year, semiconductors made up almost half of Taiwan’s exports to China – a 33 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China.
China’s 5G giant Huawei was TSMC’s second-largest customer until 2020, when the Trump administration ordered the company, which relies on US chip-making equipment, to stop accepting orders from Huawei. However, it still supplies Chinese companies including Xiaomi, OPPO, Horizon Robotics and Bitmain.
The Huawei ban is an example of US restrictions on Chinese high-tech companies. In recent years, the United States and China have launched general competitions in politics, military affairs and technology. US President Biden signed the “Chip and Science Act” in August this year, which includes $52.7 billion in subsidies to support domestic semiconductor research and production in the United States. Washington wants to work with Taiwanese, South Korean and Japanese companies to build new domestic manufacturing bases while preventing sensitive technology from leaking to China.
The US technological blockade has made the CCP feel like a stick around its neck. The CCP is already creating public opinion, demanding to attack Taiwan and take TSMC in its pocket. Chen Wenling, a Chinese economist with a strong official background and chief economist of the Chinese think tank “Center for International Economic Exchange”, claimed in May this year, when the United States and other Western countries imposed devastating sanctions on the CCP as sanctions against Russia, China “Taiwan must be reclaimed.”
He claimed that TSMC must be grabbed. Chen Wenling also said, “They (TSMC) are speeding up their transfer to the United States, and they want to build six factories in the United States. We must not let them realize all the goals of the transfer.”
TSMC is expanding plans to build factories in the United States
TSMC and the US joined forces to defeat the wishes of the CCP. On December 5, Brian Deese, chairman of the White House Economic Council, told the media that TSMC will build a 3nm fab near the existing factory, which is expected to start construction in 2023 and begin mass production in 2026. That would boost to TSMC’s investment in Arizona from $12 billion to $40 billion. In addition, the process introduced by TSMC in the Arizona fab will be upgraded from the original 5nm to 4nm.
Carl Schuster told The Epoch Times that the threat of the CCP’s attack on Taiwan is one of the reasons why the US wants TSMC to build a factory in the US.
“TSMC has become a leading producer of chips critical to the automotive, aerospace and defense industries. It gives everyone an independent choice. Any free country including Taiwan (Republic of China) has any influence. Therefore, by strengthening its influence. situation in the chip market, TSMC moved the production to the United States, provided an alternative to China, and reduced the Influence.”
Responsible editor: Lian Shuhua#
