7 ms·

Probably. Make no mistake. China wants Taiwan for tsmc.

• Hamuko 5y ago
  Haven't people been floating the idea of Taiwan destroying TSMC's facilities in the event of an invasion?
  • Rastonbury 5y ago
    Imagine the chip shortages then!
    • lnsru 5y ago
      Don’t worry, Intel is expanding foundry capacity for this case. Apple SoC will stay on the same node for couple years, but that’s not an end of the world for consumers.
      • Hamuko 5y ago
        TSMC also has the WaferTech fab in the US and is currently building fabs in the US and Japan. I imagine geopolitical diversity is one goal in the placement of those new fabs. But it'd still lead to a massive global chip shortage if TSMC's facilities in Taiwan were wiped out. And I guess that is a deterrent that Taiwan can use against China.
  • skohan 5y ago
    I would imagine there would at least be a sharp decrease in yield rates. Hard to imagine all those Taiwanese TSMC workers working hard to ensure the technological dominance of mainland China.
    • dirtyid 5y ago
      >Hard to imagine all those Taiwanese TSMC workers There's a reason PRC has much more success poaching TSMC employees than US trying to fill up new fabs. Why TW has drafted laws to prevent TW semiconductor talent from working on mainland. Generally TWers prefer working in PRC, with comparable language / culture. Great compensation and quick flight home. Reality is most of TSMC employees will been prevented from being paperclipped to the US in event of war, their future will be firmly tied to PRC and as significant assets, they'll be treated with more carrots than sticks.
  • nicoburns 5y ago
    Not sure if it's true, but I've heard that Taiwan has already rigged all of TSMCs facilities with explosives specifically to deter Chinese invasion.
    • thedougd 5y ago
      I wonder if a few smoke bombs in the clean rooms would be enough?
      • sgc 5y ago
        It is certainly not hard to destroy the machines. But getting the expertise and data is worth a lot anyways, if you are already at this stage.
• xuki 5y ago
  China want Taiwan with or without TSMC. If China take over Taiwan the US will probably block ASML from doing business with TSMC.
  • drexlspivey 5y ago
    The US cant block a european company from doing anything
    • Hamuko 5y ago
      They can pretty effectively. Not directly of course, but they can make life harder for said European company if they don't follow their sanctions.
    • Tr03P 5y ago
      They can, since ASML are using US technology. Especially after ASML brought out Cymer.
      • audunw 5y ago
        From what I read regarding the current block, USA couldn't force ASML under current US law, because ASML uses less than 25% US technology. But USA didn't have to force them. ASML's EUV tech started out as a US funded venture, so I don't think they want to start a fight with USA. And USA could obviously change its laws to block sales of technology even if less than 25% of the end product is from USA.
      • sylware 5y ago
        If I recall properly, and if I trust what I read/viewed from the internet ages ago, EUV optics is from Germany (zeiss), and the EUV light is from cymer. cymer almost lost their part because they had been unable to deliver enough EUV light power for too long (in the end, it seems they shine their massive CO2 laser on a tin droplet, 2 times instead of one and yield enough power). mask/wafer alignment equipment, dunno where they are from (nanometric piezo-electric motors, with probably laser interferometer). Then, at the time everything was run in extreme vaccum, but heard something about hydrogen gas.