Big Tech’s reliance on TSMC makes the China-Taiwan dispute the world’s most dangerous geopolitical flashpoint, says writer Eyck Freymann ahead of this week’s Xi-Trump meeting in Beijing.
In recent years, there have been several reminders of how interconnected the global economy is, and how fragile supply chains are. The shutdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic led to big tech companies including Apple shifting some production out of China, while the Middle East conflict is pushing companies to consider how to safeguard their data.
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. TSMC, the world’s top semiconductor manufacturer, makes the majority of the advanced chips that power smartphones, electric vehicles, and the artificial intelligence race between the U.S. and China.
“The economic shock from a serious Taiwan disruption would dwarf anything we’ve seen in the postwar period,” Freymann told Rest of World ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned visit to China.
The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
