TSMC makes a lot more than iPhone CPUs. A lot more. And they do a lot more than cutting-edge process nodes -- they have active 180nm fabs. Microcontrollers, ADC

TSMC makes a lot more than iPhone CPUs. A lot more. And they do a lot more than cutting-edge process nodes -- they have active 180nm fabs. Microcontrollers, ADCs, DACs, ASICs... almost anything you can buy that contains electronics can have ICs manufactured by TSMC. Now think about all the non-consumer equipment with embedded electronics -- trucks, trains, container ships, industrial equipment, medical equipment. Suddenly there are no spare parts available. It takes months to redesign and re-manufacture new electronics, and the supply of non-TSMC components will be unpredictable as everyone rushes to change all at once. On top of that, other foundries in Taiwan (like UMC) would go down, we'd be cut off from all the fabs in China, and if the war expands China might target fabs in South Korea and Japan. It wouldn't be mass starvation in weeks, but it might only be a few steps removed from that.