4 ms·

So what actually happens to fabs outside of Taiwan if China do take Taiwan and presumably also TSMC the company.

chaostheory 5y ago
Good question, but we'll probably have bigger problems, like a potential hot war, if that happens. How these problems get resolved ie "who wins" is the answer to what happens to TSMC.
ChuckMcM 5y ago
Really good question. I don't know. What I would do if I were leading TSMC is create a wholly owned subsidiary which held all of the non-Chinese assets and headquarter it in a tax neutral country like the Netherlands. Let's call it TSMC International. Then in the event of an assimilation by China, sell all of the assets that TSMC the parent company owns, to TSMC-i for $1 or something. And in fact have the paper work at the TSMC-i headquarters all filled out just waiting for being dated and executed by TSMC-i executives. It is a variation on a poison pill defense.
i21QMgplhRJs2OL 5y ago
Something like what happened with Arm China. https://www.extremetech.com/computing/326447-arm-china-seizes-ip-relaunches-as-an-independent-company https://www.extremetech.com/computing/326447-arm-china-seize...
- mianos 5y ago
  p.sm this was retracted. The new company is specifically specialising in extensions and add-ons. Or that was what they were told to re-write.
  - ksec 5y ago
    >Or that was what they were told to re-write. Especially when they are in the middle of going thought M&A. Along with trying not to anger China which could retaliate.
deaddodo 5y ago
Theoretically; something similar to what happened to the Cuban cigar producers after the revolution. They spin off into their own company/companies no longer recognizing the “invalidated” company charter. But, realistically, China will press their global influence to keep them under Sino-TSMC’s control under a new Chinese corporate charter.
- NineStarPoint 5y ago
  It will depend heavily on the amount of global sway China has at that point. I imagine the countries TSMC builds the fabs in would vastly prefer to use the invasion as an excuse to say the fabs belong under the control of a entity without connections to China.
protomyth 5y ago
I think the going in position is that the fabs in Taiwan are not going to exist if China takes the island, so the only fab business will be outside fabs. I assume they have a continuity plan for one of the other offices to become the new HQ https://www.tsmc.com/english/aboutTSMC/business_contacts https://www.tsmc.com/english/aboutTSMC/business_contacts
stale2002 5y ago
Well one possibility is that those fabs will simply be nationalized by the country that they are in. That would be an effective economic retaliation against a country that invades someone else like that.
Bayart 5y ago
They'll be spun off into different companies. That's usually what happens when multinationals get cut across by war.

Good question, but we'll probably have bigger problems, like a potential hot war, if that happens. How these problems get resolved ie "who wins" is the answer to what happens to TSMC.

ChuckMcM 5y ago

Really good question. I don't know. What I would do if I were leading TSMC is create a wholly owned subsidiary which held all of the non-Chinese assets and headquarter it in a tax neutral country like the Netherlands. Let's call it TSMC International. Then in the event of an assimilation by China, sell all of the assets that TSMC the parent company owns, to TSMC-i for $1 or something. And in fact have the paper work at the TSMC-i headquarters all filled out just waiting for being dated and executed by TSMC-i executives. It is a variation on a poison pill defense.

i21QMgplhRJs2OL 5y ago

Something like what happened with Arm China. https://www.extremetech.com/computing/326447-arm-china-seizes-ip-relaunches-as-an-independent-company https://www.extremetech.com/computing/326447-arm-china-seize...

mianos 5y ago
p.sm this was retracted. The new company is specifically specialising in extensions and add-ons. Or that was what they were told to re-write.
- ksec 5y ago
  >Or that was what they were told to re-write. Especially when they are in the middle of going thought M&A. Along with trying not to anger China which could retaliate.

deaddodo 5y ago

Theoretically; something similar to what happened to the Cuban cigar producers after the revolution. They spin off into their own company/companies no longer recognizing the “invalidated” company charter. But, realistically, China will press their global influence to keep them under Sino-TSMC’s control under a new Chinese corporate charter.

NineStarPoint 5y ago
It will depend heavily on the amount of global sway China has at that point. I imagine the countries TSMC builds the fabs in would vastly prefer to use the invasion as an excuse to say the fabs belong under the control of a entity without connections to China.

protomyth 5y ago

I think the going in position is that the fabs in Taiwan are not going to exist if China takes the island, so the only fab business will be outside fabs. I assume they have a continuity plan for one of the other offices to become the new HQ https://www.tsmc.com/english/aboutTSMC/business_contacts https://www.tsmc.com/english/aboutTSMC/business_contacts

stale2002 5y ago

Well one possibility is that those fabs will simply be nationalized by the country that they are in. That would be an effective economic retaliation against a country that invades someone else like that.

Bayart 5y ago

They'll be spun off into different companies. That's usually what happens when multinationals get cut across by war.