Their security guarantees involve “we will melt our chip foundries to slag if the PRC invades”. That’s not a joke. That’s an official element of their strategic defense policy. They are pointedly tying the bleeding edge of semiconductor manufacturing - which corresponds to a very fucking big chunk of the global economy - to their sovereignty and territorial integrity. And it’s frankly an extremely shrewd policy.
Their security guarantees involve “we will melt our chip foundries to slag if the PRC invades”. That’s not a joke. That’s an official element of their strategic defense policy. They are pointedly tying the bleeding edge of semiconductor manufacturing - which corresponds to a very fucking big chunk of the global economy - to their sovereignty and territorial integrity. And it’s frankly an extremely shrewd policy.
I haven’t kept up. Are they still 10 years ahead of their competitors? I know they had better yields than, let’s say, Samsung.
Even intel is using TSMC for their latest 200 series chips. Technology is one thing, doing it at scale is another. Samsung is close but still behind.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-says-it-will-beat-tsmc-to-4nm-production-in-the-us
They are still bleeding edge. Samsung is making really impressive strides, but TSMC is simultaneously not resting on their laurels.