The ad, published by the world’s largest semiconductor company, Taiwan’s TSMC, in February, brought a smile to industry experts: Asia’s most valuable company was looking for a PhD graduate who could analyze “geopolitical and economic changes that may affect the supply chain”. A small revolution for a company more comfortable in the shadow of its prestigious clients, Qualcomm or Apple, than in the middle of the international political arena.
Jealous of its industrial secrets, the company rarely opens its doors to journalists, and its leaders avoid interviews. In recent years, however, geopolitics has caught up with her: on August 3, during her controversial visit to Taiwan, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the American House of Representatives, took the time to meet Mark Liu, the boss of TSMC. In the following days, as China held military exercises around Taiwan, analysts worried as much about global supply chains as they did about the fate of the 24 million people on the island, over which China claims control. sovereignty.
And for good reason, TSMC produces 90% of the most advanced chips in the world: those that allow the latest iPhones to be the most powerful, data centers to run global computing and supercomputers to solve ever more complex problems. . As China steps up military and economic pressure on the island, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has dubbed TSMC the “sacred mountain protector of the nation”.
Cumbersome status
A cumbersome status, some say: because, if the United States has promised to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, American pressure to technologically isolate China is costing Taiwanese industry more and more. Despite the island’s diversification efforts, China remains Taiwan’s largest trading partner, receiving, with Hong Kong, 42% of Taiwanese exports in 2021, 55% of which are electronic chips, or 104 billion dollars (107 billion dollars). euros), according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Finance.
On October 7, the United States announced the broadest sanctions ever imposed on Chinese semiconductor companies, requiring any Chinese entity to obtain a license from the US Department of Commerce, with a presumption of refusal. After this announcement, TSMC’s stock price fell by more than 8%. That of UMC, another Taiwanese chipmaker, fell 4.7%, while MediaTek, the number one chip designer in Taiwan, lost 9%. The analysis firm Bernstein estimates that TSMC could lose between 0.4% and 5% of turnover in 2023.
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