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PhantomGremlin
A short article worth reading. The title is somewhat click-bait but the analogy is real.

TL;DR: So much leading edge semiconductor chip manufacturing is now done in Taiwan that the island has acquired strategic significance. The analogy is to Arrakis being the sole source of "spice" in the Dune novels.

fancyfredbot
TSMC is a valuable company. However it relies on ASML, a Dutch company, for the machines it uses.

Global supply chains are complicated and interconnected. TSMC would be worth a lot less without ASML. That's a good thing for peace and cooperation!

nix23
>However it relies on ASML, a Dutch company

Absolutely true, also all the Silicon Producers and and and..

Taiwan is more like the Sandworm, but the Sand and the Harvesters come from other Places.

throwaway6e8f
It’s surprising to me that there hasn’t been a mainland Chinese company that rivals TSMC yet. Why is this?
fqrley
The IP is too valuable to hand over to the mainland. Not just of the fab, but the equipment and clients.
antoniuschan99
I think thats SMIC China’s own company that’s trying to rival TSMC