Putting Industrial Hegemony before Practical Benefit
Taiwanese newspaper DigiTimes reported on July 8 that the United States is putting pressure on TSMC not to expand its facilities in China.
TSMC announced in April this year that it would expand its facilities in Nanjing by investing US$2.8 billion. According to the company’s plan, the plant will produce automotive chips using 28-nm and less advanced process technologies and will be put into operation between the second quarter of 2022 and January 2023.
In fact, the facility expansion in Nanjing is not entirely bad news on the part of the United States in that the process technologies are relatively free from concerns over technology outflow and automotive chips are extremely hard to come by these days.
In addition, TSMC is planning to build six semiconductor plants in Arizona by investing US$12 billion and employ ultra-fine processing technologies of 5-nm and less there. In other words, the Taiwanese company is planning to produce more advanced and value-added products in the United States and low-value products in China.
The pressure from the United States is because it is putting industrial hegemony before practical benefit. TSMC is an important part of the ongoing U.S.-China trade disputes and its change of plan can serve as a tool for the United States to prevent Samsung Electronics, GlobalFoundries and other companies from building foundries in China.