Noah Smith: “For example, if Taiwan gets invaded or bombed by China or struck by a massive earthquake, the world’s chip supply could be seriously damaged, because most of the factories of TSMC — the world’s dominant chipmaker — are in Taiwan. Thus, it makes sense to pressure or cajole TSMC into moving some of its factories to safer locations — the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere.”
What is going with the Trump administration and The Chips Act? I caught a statement from former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan about the impact of tariffs on Southeast Asia, and the risk they pose to the global economy. (NPR, Morning Edition, April 10, 2025). This: “People who know the semiconductor industry much, much, much, much better than I ever will tell me the U.S. is not ready. You don't have enough skilled semiconductor engineers or engineers of the right type. You don't have enough workers with the right skills. Now, in time, you will build that. You can build that. But that's not going to be done overnight.”
I view TSMC investment in US manufacturing as a training ground for American tech workers and next gen chip manufacturing, along with providing additional supply chain security outside of Taiwan. Further downstream, do we even have the technical capability to run a ASML machine? Where does all of this logical progression of American growth, security, and manufacturing sit with the current administration?
Noah Smith: “For example, if Taiwan gets invaded or bombed by China or struck by a massive earthquake, the world’s chip supply could be seriously damaged, because most of the factories of TSMC — the world’s dominant chipmaker — are in Taiwan. Thus, it makes sense to pressure or cajole TSMC into moving some of its factories to safer locations — the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere.”
What is going with the Trump administration and The Chips Act? I caught a statement from former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan about the impact of tariffs on Southeast Asia, and the risk they pose to the global economy. (NPR, Morning Edition, April 10, 2025). This: “People who know the semiconductor industry much, much, much, much better than I ever will tell me the U.S. is not ready. You don't have enough skilled semiconductor engineers or engineers of the right type. You don't have enough workers with the right skills. Now, in time, you will build that. You can build that. But that's not going to be done overnight.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/10/nx-s1-5352415/tariffs-impact-southeast-asian-countries-hard
I view TSMC investment in US manufacturing as a training ground for American tech workers and next gen chip manufacturing, along with providing additional supply chain security outside of Taiwan. Further downstream, do we even have the technical capability to run a ASML machine? Where does all of this logical progression of American growth, security, and manufacturing sit with the current administration?
We can continue to bring skilled workers here with visas. Problem solved.
We “get” Taiwan before the PRC does, obviously! Problem solved.