The Silicon Shield is real, but it’s also overrated. Both Washington and Beijing have a strong interest in TSMC continuing to function. Neither side wants to be cut off from advanced chips. China has spent enormous sums trying to build a domestic alternative, with limited success at the leading edge. The U.S. passed the CHIPS Act and is subsidizing TSMC fabs in Arizona and elsewhere. But Taipei has banned TSMC from making its most advanced chips abroad, so the bleeding edge stays on the island for the foreseeable future. That mutual dependence does create a deterrent against the most catastrop
Taiwan’s chips power the global economy. China holds the leverageTaiwan matters for three overlapping reasons. The first is geographic. Taiwan sits at the center of the first island chain, between Japan and the Philippines. If Beijing controlled it, the Chinese Navy would have unimpeded access to the open Pacific. The second is political. Xi Jinping has tied his legacy to “national rejuvenation,” and in his telling, that includes resolving the Taiwan question on Beijing’s terms. Whether Taiwan’s future is decided peacefully — without coercion, and in accordance with Taiwan’s democratic wishes — will define the future of regional order. If China can seize Ta
Taiwan’s chips power the global economy. China holds the leverageWe’ve concentrated the most strategically important manufacturing capacity in human history on a single island, 100 miles from a hostile great power, with no meaningful redundancy and no serious plan for what happens if it’s disrupted. That’s not a Taiwan problem; it’s a choice the rest of the world made, and it’s a choice that even in the best case-scenario would take years to undo.
Taiwan’s chips power the global economy. China holds the leverage… These hiccups are nothing compared to the effects of a serious disruption to the flow of chips from Taiwan, according to Eyck Freymann, a Hoover fellow at Stanford University, and author of a new book, Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War With China. …
… Not one of them contemplated the possibility that a regional adversary would launch missiles at the physical buildings where those chips were meant to run. “The security frameworks behind the U.S.-UAE AI partnership were built for supply chain control and political alignment, not for protecting bui… …
… Abu Dhabi’s G42 cut ties with Huawei , and Humain aligned with U.S. chip suppliers. “The security frameworks underpinning the U.S.-UAE AI partnership appear to have focused on supply chain control and geopolitical alignment, not on physical defense during high-intensity conflict,” Ali Bakir, an ass… …
… These deals include major AI and cloud partnerships, such as a planned 5-gigawatt data center campus in Abu Dhabi and expanded access to advanced U.S. AI chips. …
… AI gains rest on publicly funded research, government-backed infrastructure, decades of scientific work, and the labor of people throughout the supply chain — from chip fabrication to data labeling to content moderation, Brown said. …
… It said nothing about the kinetic defense of the physical infrastructure those chips would power. “U.S. government and industry leaders have prioritized expansion over kinetic risk mitigation,” Sam Zabin, a fellow at CSIS, told Rest of World . …