3 ms·

I'm not advocating or endorsing China invading Taiwan here but would that mean chips stop coming? Or is the fear they get backdoored? Would $8B be better used

• pjc50 3y ago
  Capturing TSMC intact by force is .. unlikely. Assuming it survives the fighting, there's definitely both Taiwanese and US factions advocating for blowing it up. https://press.armywarcollege.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3089&context=parameters https://press.armywarcollege.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article... ; all it would take is one patriotic officer in the retreat to decide to deny it to the enemy by chucking a grenade in the clean room, and the equipment is toast. Russia burnt down Moscow to deny it to Napoleon, and Hitler ordered that the same be done to Paris (but in that case the officers decided not to obey). A more likely scenario is simply that threats and internal political pressure cause Taiwan to ""voluntarily"" unify with the mainland. $8bn buys you about one (1) fab, but you also need the staff and institutional knowledge to run it, so realistically it has to go to some company that is already operating a similar fab.