TSMC Expects Chinese Retaliation Due to Regional Conflicts
The biggest concern is that China would attack Taiwan due to the weak global response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Security agencies in the US and the UK have warned that this is a serious possibility. Despite this threat, analysts warned the Financial Times that China would likely respond severely to US meddling in its chip manufacturing plans. Both the US and China have been attempting to catch up with TSMC’s sophisticated techniques, which have left US chipmakers in the dust. The US CHIPS Act gives domestic and international chipmakers incentives in the US gives incentives to both domestic and international chipmakers to establish factories there; US Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited TSMC to address this and other issues. China was already incensed by what it perceived as unjust US subsidies, and Pelosi’s visit only worsened it. It replied by interfering with Taiwanese imports to retaliate against businesses like Apple that depend on them. Both of those objectives potentially undermine TSMC, whose success is built on serving customers in all markets and a on doing so from a cost-efficient cluster of plants almost entirely in Taiwan […] On the one hand, the US pressures TSMC to move to the US. On the other, it is waging technology war on China, pushing tension to a higher level that puts Taiwan at risk.” -Financial Times Due to its high dependence on TSMC for the manufacturing of its A-series and M-series processors, Apple is more vulnerable than anybody else. It has been reported that TSMC’s Arizona chip manufacturing facility may produce Apple CPUs; however, as of yet, neither the newest chip generations nor anything resembling the scale required for A-series and M-series chips is included in the plans.
