STOCK PHOTO
Chips are crucial for building everything from iPhones and washing machines to cars and fighter jets. One chip executive at a large foreign firm with operations in Taiwan said his company was asked about its business continuity plans by its customers and had in turn asked their suppliers in Taiwan the same questions.
Sebastian Hou, senior investment analyst at Neuberger Berman in Taipei, said that after the US–China trade war began many Taiwanese non-chip tech companies had reshored manufacturing or relocated to Southeast Asia because they were asked by their clients in the United States or Europe to diversify away from China.
Executives told Reuters it will be difficult to replicate the efficiency of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, with chip giants and hundreds of their suppliers arranged in clusters along the western coast of the island — especially given higher costs in countries such as the United States.