Morris Chang: With a war all the factories would be destroyed. If the attack on the island is successful, the Chinese would not be able to control the company. TSMC controls 53% of the world chip market. New US bans on semiconductor exports deal a serious blow to China.
Taipei () – If China wants “economic well-being”, it will not invade Taiwan, said Morris Chang (see photo), founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (TSMC), the world’s leading manufacturer of microchips, key components of all technologies in circulation.
Chang refers to the “silicon shield”: the world’s dependence on Taiwan for the production of semiconductors, especially the most advanced ones. Interviewed a few days ago by the American CBS, he explained that the Chinese cannot appropriate and nationalize TSMC, because that would imply a war and “everything would be destroyed”.
China considers Taiwan a “rogue province” that must be reunited, even with the use of force. The tension between the two shores of the Taiwan Strait increased in early August after the visit to the island of Nancy Pelosi, president of the US House of Representatives. Several military analysts affirm that the attack could take place within five years , when China is still at its “peak” of power.
As the current president of TSMC, Mark Liu, has already pointed out, a Chinese attack on Taiwan would paralyze the company’s activities, creating “great economic chaos” both on the island and in China. Liu explains that TSMC cannot be controlled by force. Given the high sophistication, its plants must be connected in real time with partners around the world – the United States, Europe and Japan above all – to guarantee raw materials, chemicals and spare parts.
TSMC controls about 53% of the global microchip market. Sales in China make up 10-12% of its revenue, an effective deterrent according to many observers. In the event of a conflict, Taiwanese chip production would be halted, rendering Beijing’s most advanced technologies, including military ones, invalid.
Chinese microchip manufacturers cover only a fraction of the sector globally, but 70% of the domestic industry. Xi Jinping’s bid for self-sufficiency in semiconductors suffered a serious blow on October 7, when the Biden administration imposed strong controls on the sale to China of microchips made by US companies (or foreign ones with US-made components).
The Chinese are still dependent on high-tech supplies from the US, without which they cannot develop their own (advanced) microchip industry.
