After TSMC’s founder, Dr. Moris Chang, once again managed to successfully create controversy by sharing his belief that recent geopolitical shifts imply that globalization is a thing of the past, Taiwan’s Minister of Economy, Ms. Weng Mei-hua shared her take on the matter stating that global trade is still very much alive due to the presence of organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). She, however, added that the global ecosystem is shifting as countries are taking restrictive measures to protect their national security and dubbed comments, stating that TSMC is now a “U.S. Manufacturing Company”, as efforts to destabilize the U.S.-Taiwan relationship.
TSMC’s U.S. Fab Generates Fresh Controversy As Accusations Fly Around
At the start of this week, TSMC officially celebrated the first batch of machines arriving at its Arizona manufacturing plant. The ceremony was a high profile event, with not only executives from Apple, AMD and NVIDIA joining the event, but President Biden also leaving his mark by celebrating the return of manufacturing to his country. At the same time, however, controversy was present in the debate surrounding the plant, with several quarters accusing TSMC of de-Taiwainizing the semiconductor supply chain. This received sharp responses from minister Mei-hua and the head of Caixin Media, Mr. Xie Jinhe. The latter, who had agreed with Dr. Chang’s evaluation of globalization, shared in another social media post that talk of ‘de-Taiwanization’ is not in the interests of the island region. He added that TSMC’s executive chairman Dr. Mark Liu and chief executive officer, Dr. C.C. Wei, were offered the honor of flanking President Biden - an honor that no other executive in Taiwan can claim for themselves. Mr. Jinhe also stated that the Arizona fab is a significant step in TSMC’s internationalization, and those who believe it marks a removal of chip manufacturing from Taiwan are ignorant. Ms. Mei-hua’s statements followed a similar tune. However, she disagreed with Dr. Chang’s statement that globalization is over. According to her, organizations such as the WTO continue to promote free trade globally. However, recently, the dynamics have also shifted since countries are now actively taking steps to protect their national security by carrying out measures that are outside the ambit of the WTO. The minister believes that given Taiwan’s crucial position in the global supply chain, it will be challenging for her country to respond to the recent changes. Additionally, she also mentioned claims that TSMC is now a ‘U.S. manufacturing company’ as propaganda from Mainland China that is aimed towards destabilizing the relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan and slowing down the pace at which TSMC accelerates manufacturing in the U.S. - which, according to her, will benefit the Mainland. TSMC has announced that it will produce N4 chips in its U.S. plant from 2024, and scale production up to 3-nanometer in 2026. Since the firm is already producing the 3-nanometer products in Taiwan, this leaves the Asian island ahead in terms of manufacturing technology - only when TSMC is considered. The other player in this arena is Intel Corporation, which has brought forward its product roadmap and aims to manufacture 2-nanometer processors in the first half of 2024. TSMC, on the other hand, plans to build these chips in Taiwan in 2025. Competition between the two has intensified as of late, especially since TSMC has leaped ahead in terms of rolling out new technologies, and Intel has entered the contract chip manufacturing industry as well. The former’s Arizona plant is also expected help American firms, such as AMD, to procure advanced chips closer to home.
