Amid rising geopolitical tensions, multinational companies are keen to acquire a new type of talent — experts with a political economic background who can develop a business strategy to help them navigate increasingly troubled waters. Escalating tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border, the US-China trade dispute and a lingering COVID-19 pandemic continue to threaten a fragile world economic recovery and ensnarl global supply chains, especially of semiconductors.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is leading local businesses in this regard. In a post on LinkedIn last week, the company last week took the unprecedented step of advertising for a business intelligence analyst “who is interested in translating geopolitics and economics changes to impact on IC industry supply chain.” Candidates should be able to research and provide political economic analyses on the relationship between Taiwan, the US and China, it says.
The move by the world’s biggest contract chipmaker follows US and European endeavors to build their own semiconductor capacities, as chips become an increasingly vital component, or a strategic resource with national security implications, after the COVID-19 pandemic and rising trade barriers disrupted their supply. Automakers in the US and Europe have been severely affected by the prolonged chip supply crunch, which in turn has had an impact on regional suppliers along the chain.
To keep up with the changing global dynamics, TSMC has become more proactive in expanding abroad. Despite higher manufacturing costs, the company is building a factory in the US to avoid the impact of the US-China trade dispute on its business. With incentives from the US government, TSMC is building a 12-inch plant in Arizona and is scheduled to begin production of 5-nanometer chips in 2024.
In November last year, TSMC also agreed to form a chipmaking venture in Japan with Sony Semiconductor Solution Corp and Denso Corp to make automotive chips. Furthmore, the EU is pushing for a partnership with TSMC to help it develop semiconductor production in the bloc. TSMC has said that it is evaluating the feasibility of expanding its manufacturing footprint to Europe, possibly Germany.
TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) foresaw this trend three years ago — one year after he retired from the company in 2018. At the time, Chang told TSMC employees that the company was a crucial part of the world’s information and communication technologies industry supply chain, but now it has become “a place of vital importance in geostrategic terms, as the world is no longer peaceful.”
The company in 2019 hired Peter Cleveland as vice president of global policy to enhance its communication with US government agencies. In 2020, the US banned the world’s chipmakers and component manufacturers from supplying HiSilicon Technologies Co, a chip designing arm of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co, amid its heightened trade conflict with Beijing. HiSilicon was once the second-biggest client of TSMC.
Now that the world has become more complicated than three years ago, it is almost impossible for TSMC, or any other multinational company, to ignore geopolitical factors. Business is no longer just business. The influence of politcs has to be factored in, as it plays an ever bigger role in shaping corporate business plans in the longer run. TSMC has set the example for the local industry, as it looks for global experts in political economics and legal consultants for directions to safeguard its corporate interests and minimize the risks of supply chain disruptions, or order losses. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is doing the same thing to shield itself from becoming a victim of geopolitical tensions.
Recently, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) published three of my articles on the US presidential election, which is to be held on Nov. 5. I would like to share my perspective on the intense and stalemated presidential election with the people of Taiwan, as well as Taiwanese and Chinese Americans in the US. The current consensus of both major US political parties is to counter China and protect Taiwan. However, I do not trust former US president Donald Trump. He has questioned the US’ commitment to defending Taiwan and explicitly stated the significant challenges involved in doing so. “Trump believes
The government is considering building a semiconductor cluster in Europe, specifically in the Czech Republic, to support Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) new fab in Dresden, Germany, and to help local companies explore new business opportunities there. Europe wants to ensure the security of its semiconductor sector, but a lack of comprehensive supply chains there could pose significant risks to semiconductor clusters. The Czech government is aggressively seeking to build its own semiconductor industry and showing strong interest in collaborating with Taiwanese companies. Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on Friday said that Taiwan is optimistic about building a semiconductor cluster in
China has successfully held its Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with 53 of 55 countries from the African Union (AU) participating. The two countries that did not participate were Eswatini and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which have no diplomatic relations with China. Twenty-four leaders were reported to have participated. Despite African countries complaining about summit fatigue, with recent summits held with Russia, Italy, South Korea, the US and Indonesia, as well as Japan next month, they still turned up in large numbers in Beijing. China’s ability to attract most of the African leaders to a summit demonstrates that it is still being
The Russian city of Vladivostok lies approximately 45km from the Sino-Russian border on the Sea of Japan. The area was not always Russian territory: It was once the site of a Chinese settlement. The settlement would later be known as Yongmingcheng (永明城), the “city of eternal light,” during the Yuan Dynasty. That light was extinguished in 1858 when a large area of land was ceded by the Qing Dynasty to the Russian Empire with the signing of the Treaty of Aigun. The People’s Republic of China founded by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never ruled Taiwan. Taiwan was governed by the
RSS