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.
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