As political winds shift, top chipmaker TSMC looks beyond Taiwan

"Silicon Valley may be the heart of global tech, but its pulse depends on a special kind of lifeblood high-end microchips many of which flow out of a science park on Taiwan's west coast. The park has been home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, since the company's inception nearly four decades ago. It is from this base that TSMC made itself indispensable to modern life; its chips are in everything from cell phones to cars. By some estimates, it produces over 90% of the world's most advanced chips."

"But the calculus has been shifting for Taiwan's biggest and most profitable company, as the U.S.-China rivalry has intensified and chips have come to be seen as strategic to U.S. national security because of their applications in military technologies and artificial intelligence. Beijing has also been dialing up political pressure on Taiwan; TSMC's headquarters and much of its chipmaking infrastructure lie less than 100 miles from China across the Taiwan Strait. The semiconductor industry has long been considered a "silicon shield" that ensures Taiwan's safety."

""As a company, all we can do is focus on our fundamentals: technology leadership, manufacturing excellence, and then the customers' trust. We don't know politics. That's between the governments," Huang told NPR in an October interview at the company's headquarters. But politics have shaped the landscape. Currently, many of the company's customers, which include equipment suppliers, chip designers and hardware companies like Applied Materials and Qualcomm, have offices in the science park that surrounds TSMC's facilities in Taiwan."

TSMC, based in a Taiwanese science park, produces the majority of the world's most advanced microchips used in phones, cars, military systems, and AI. The U.S.-China rivalry and recognition of chips as strategic technology have shifted risk considerations for the company. Political pressure from Beijing and proximity to China increase vulnerability for TSMC's headquarters and manufacturing. The company frames its moves largely as responses to customer demand and focuses on technology leadership, manufacturing excellence, and customer trust. Customers and equipment suppliers historically cluster near TSMC's facilities, and TSMC is now establishing operations closer to global customers.

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