the US semiconductor industry are incorrect. That misunderstanding could impact the future of one of the world’s most important relationships, and end up aiding China at a time it is working hard to push its own tech sector to catch up.
It’s not the first time he’s said this about the island’s chip sector, but comes amid heightened military, trade and technology rivalry between the two superpowers. In truth, Taiwan accounts for less than a quarter of the global semiconductor market, trailing the US, but has more than a 90% share in the fabrication of the most-advanced chips¹.Right now, the global semiconductor space ought to be celebrating a boom driven by skyrocketing demand for artificial intelligence.
In fact, the seed of Taiwan’s technological rise was planted by US foreign policy dating back to 1950, before semiconductors were invented. At the time, President Harry Truman directed his administration to pump money into the island’s economy. The US was also there at the birth of Taiwan’s chip sector. In 1976, Radio Corporation of America agreed to license its semiconductor technology to Taiwan, for a fee.
If not for the risks taken by Taiwanese enterprises, and cooperation — instead of unbridled competition — with US companies, Qualcomm and Broadcom couldn’t have dominated the global market for communications chips. And Nvidia, Intel and AMD wouldn’t be ahead of China in the AI chip race.