In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, the Republican presidential nominee repeated his assertion, first made last year, that the island democracy and US ally had taken “almost 100%” of the industry from the United States. “We should have never let that happen,” he added. Except, it didn’t. Industry experts tell CNN that, far from stealing, Taiwan grew its own semiconductor industry organically through a combination of foresight, hard work and investment.
“The combination of top-tier engineers, relatively lower labor cost and long working hours have led to better productivity,” Konrad Young, a former research and development director at TSMC, told CNN, adding that Taiwan’s comprehensive tech ecosystem is another crucial component of the island’s chip prowess. “These are factors that are nearly impossible to duplicate,” Young said. But that doesn’t mean competitors aren’t trying.