Taiwan chip industry emerges as battlefront in US-China showdown

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen waves at the end of a rank conferral ceremony for military officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force, at the Defence ministry in Taipei, Taiwan. [Reuters]

On the front line of the superpower struggle between the United States and China, Taiwan has fashioned a defensive masterstroke. It has become indispensable to both sides.

In dominating the fabrication of the most advanced semiconductors, the giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (TSMC) has captured a technology that’s crucial to the cutting-edge digital devices and weapons of today and tomorrow. TSMC accounts for more than 90 per cent of global output of these chips, according to industry estimates.