Morris Chang, founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, one of the world’s largest chip fabricators, said that the current tension in relations between China and the United States is a factor negatively affecting the state of affairs in the sphere of global production of microcircuits, slowing down the processes in this industry.
Mr. Chang, who founded TSMC in the late 1980s, spoke at an event hosted by the Asian Society in New York. His company, in the context of the overall development process of Taiwan, has become an important component and still serves as a kind of driver of the island’s growth, which has made this region a global manufacturer of microcircuits.
Washington is currently implementing a targeted and systematic political strategy to contain Beijing’s technological potential. As part of this effort, the United States has restricted Chinese companies’ access to advanced chips. In October, Washington expanded the list of microcircuits and equipment for making it, which cannot be supplied to an Asian country. Beijing is taking retaliatory measures. China has restricted exports of germanium and gallium used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Also last week, it became known that Beijing plans to introduce similar measures regarding the supply of graphite, which is critical for making batteries for electric vehicles.
Morris Chang, who turned 92 in the summer, said that cutting off the Chinese chip industry from the rest of the world will have an impact on other players outside of this country. In his opinion, the potential separation will slow down processes at the global level. He noted that Washington’s immediate goal is to contain the scale of China’s development, and this, from the point of view of his vision of the current situation, is already happening.
Mr. Chang also said that the consequences of restrictions on Beijing, which to some extent isolate the mentioned Asian country in the space of world production, are already being observed and have the nature of obvious facts. Separately, he noted that the previous economic confrontations between states that are in a state of full formation in the global sense, and countries that are on the way to firm stability in all industries, developed through successive escalation, which eventually led to armed conflicts.
Morris Chang expressed concern about the current state of affairs in the sphere of relations between the United States and China. He stated that these countries seem to be angry at each other. The founder of TSMC says that in the context of the current situation, the only hope is that the current format of the confrontation in the trade and economic plane will not transform into more serious tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Separately, Morris Chang, during his speech in New York, paid attention to the American system of higher education, which he positively appreciated. Also, in his opinion, the current prospects for the development of this country are budding. TSMC is currently investing in the building of chip manufacturing plants in Arizona.
Morris Chang was born and raised in China, but his career path is connected with the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1962. Then the founder of TSMC began his activities to create a chip industry in Taiwan. Morris Chang said that the United States remains the hope of the world, despite all the problems the country faces.
