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.
When I visited Taiwan last summer, I called on the nation to use its status as a technology superpower to build superweapons. It is obvious to me as I return a year later that Taiwan is now answering that call. By 2030, Taiwan envisions a domestic drone hub, capable of producing large quantities of drones per year. The nation continues to tighten cooperation across the private sector, scientific researchers and the elected government, on creating new and innovative production avenues for defense, while efforts to become central to the “democratic supply chain” are only increasing. Anduril is seeing all of these positive
Singaporean former Prime Minister and current senior minister Lee Hsien- Loong(李顯龍) last month stood on Chinese soil and told Beijing that Singapore cooperates because of “shared interests”, not because of common “ethnic descent,” a significant statement that has upended China’s cognitive warfare tactics of “ethnic nationalism.” Along with using its military buildup and economic growth to expand its international dominance, China has long deployed ethnic politics to promote the idea that all ethnic Chinese around the world, regardless of citizenship, share a tight bond with the Chinese motherland, by which it means the regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
A recent report concerning a student who is suing his teacher posed the question in its headline: Does failing a student in two subjects constitute bullying? The college student in Chiayi County apparently sought NT$2 million (US$63,603) in state compensation, but a court dismissed the case. The first reaction of many might have been to ask: What has happened to students nowadays? Some say that teachers have lost their authority, while others say students are overindulged. Some even start reminiscing over the days when “whatever the teacher says goes.” However, the real issue might be overlooked if emotional reactions like that are the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in San Francisco on Tuesday last week said if she had not met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), she would have been “just a plain” and “even negligible” KMT chairperson, bluntly signaling the role she is playing in her visit to the US — Beijing’s messenger from Taiwan. Cheng and her delegation arrived in the US on Monday last week for a two-week visit across five major cities. Her party said the group is scheduled to meet with US lawmakers, officials, policy experts and businesspeople. Before departing, Cheng said her trip
RSS