- A former security adviser told Semaphore that the U.S. would destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor factories if China invaded.
- Robert O’Brien said China could “control the global economy” if it bought factories.
- TSMC is the world’s largest chip maker, powering most of the devices and appliances we use every day.
If China invades Taiwan, US will destroy island’s semiconductor factories to avoid China taking over Taiwan, former national security adviser told the semaphore.
“The United States and its allies will never allow these factories to fall into the hands of China,” said Robert O’Brien, who served as National Security Advisor under Donald Trump.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s largest chip maker, with an estimated 90% of the advanced processor market. TSMC makes chips for most of the devices and appliances we use every day, such as phones and cars. More advanced chips made by manufacturers are used in advanced technologies such as machine learning and guided missiles.
If China takes control of TSMC’s factories in the event of an invasion, the country will become “like the new OPEC of silicon chips” and China will be able to “control the global economy,” O’Brien added.
Former adviser reportedly compared US destruction of factories to ex-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered to destroy French naval fleet during World War II after France surrendered to Germany.
Neither O’Brien nor TSMC immediately responded to an insider’s request for comment.
iPhone maker Apple is TSMC’s largest customer, and TSMC makes most of the world’s 1.4 billion smartphone processors.around it 60% of automakers It reportedly uses chips from TSMC.
Much semiconductor research and development takes place in the United States, but over the last 30 years, manufacturers have decided that manufacturing is best outsourced.
“We build large factories and produce thousands of these things in low-wage, ununion-free countries that probably have no environmental requirements,” said Reinsch. “We can make money by keeping all our designs and his IP at home and doing all our sales, marketing and service from home.”
O’Brien isn’t the first to raise the idea of destroying Taiwan’s semiconductor factories if China invades.two American scholars advised to move In a paper published by the U.S. Army War College in 2021.
“First, the United States and Taiwan need to plan a targeted scorched-earth campaign that would not only make Taiwan unattractive if taken by force, but would also be aggressively costly to maintain. “This is most effective by threatening to destroy facilities belonging to the world’s most important chip maker and China’s most important supplier, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.” South Korea-based Samsung (a U.S. ally) is the only option for cutting-edge designs.”
However, Director Chen Ming-tong of the National Security Agency of Taiwan said, said before In case of aggression, there is no need for the US to destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor factories. Because the system is already deeply integrated into global supply chains. That means the US and other countries can stop production without physically destroying factories.
For example, TSMC would not be able to produce certain chips without components from Dutch supplier ASML, Chen said. “Even if China got the golden chicken, it wouldn’t be able to lay the golden egg,” Chen said.
Experts predict China will invade Taiwan within the next few years as tensions between mainland China and Taiwan continue to escalate. If China were to invade Taiwan, “it would be the biggest impact ever on the global economy,” Forrester vice president and research director Glenn O’Donnell previously told Insider. The stock market crash of 1929.