NOTTINGHAM, England:: Taking care of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan that has been largely ignored is her ending up in Tag Lui , chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC).
Pelosi’s trip coincided with US efforts in order to convince TSMC – the world’s largest chip manufacturer, on which the US is seriously dependent – to establish a manufacturing foundation in the US and to prevent making advanced chips for Chinese businesses.
US assistance for Taiwan has historically been depending on Washington’s opposition in order to communist rule within Beijing, and Taiwan’s resistance to absorption simply by China. But in recent years, Taiwan’s autonomy has become a vital geopolitical curiosity for the US because of the island’s dominance of the semiconductor manufacturing market.
Semiconductors – also known as computer potato chips or just chips – are integral to any or all the networked products that have become embedded into our lives. They likewise have advanced military apps.
Transformational, super-fast 5G Internet emerged is enabling a world of connected devices of every type (the Internet of Things) and a brand new generation of network weapons. With this in mind, ALL OF US officials began to realise during the Trump management that US semiconductor design companies, like Intel, were heavily dependent on Asian-based provide chains for the manufacturing of their products.
In particular, Taiwan’s position in the world of semiconductor production is a bit like Saudi Arabia’s status within OPEC. TSMC has a 53 per cent market share of the global foundry market (factories contracted to make chips developed in other countries). Various other Taiwan-based manufacturers declare a further 10 per cent of the market.