Taiwan Has Vital Role in Semiconductor Supply
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called the unification of Taiwan and China “inevitable,” and the costs of ignoring him are too high. Taiwan is a staple of both U.S. trade and grand strategy. Coined an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the island is a key U.S. trading partner and perhaps Washington’s greatest source of strategic leverage over China. Crucially, for at least the next half-decade, Taiwan will be the sole supplier of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips for the U.S. and its allies. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) currently produces more than 50 percent of the world’s semiconductors. Although TSMC and other chip producers have longer-term plans for moving some manufacturing to the United States, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan raises the alarming possibility of fewer chips for our nation’s most important technologies.