When TSMC is to be reallocated from Taiwan to Arizona in what was regarded as an international heist by the US government that its founder: 91-year old Morris Chang recently expressed:
“Globalization is almost dead. Free trade is almost dead. And a lot of people still wish they would come back, but I really don’t think they will be back for a while.”
TSMC epitomizes elements of globalization: on free trade, acute specialization, trans-border supply chain, with an iota of geopolitical stability that lets all these forces interact and interconnect.
The semiconductor chips produced from TSMC Arizona may cost “at least 50% more” than the chips from TSMC Taiwan. On one account, will TSMC pass on that cost to Apple or let it eat into the former’s margins? Will Apple pass on that cost to consumers or let it eat into its margins?
Though Tim Cook had announced to much fanfare that Apple will use chips made from TSMC Arizona, however he did not say whether that will make the iPhones and MacBooks even more pricier to buy.
Morris Chang had complained that not finding enough qualified American talent to do the jobs TSMC needs to operate, then
(Furthermore), due to this talent shortage, additional engineers from Taiwan must be hired, trained, and deployed to America to make TSMC Arizona function (with doubled salaries and extra benefits to boot).
Whether it will make chips in five nanometers, three nanometers, or “nano no-no”, a lot of engineers and managers (and their families) will eventually have to be uprooted from Taiwan in the coming years to make this venture a successful strategic operation for the US. stranglehold on a vital technological product.
Then, there is also an equipment shortage and supplier shortage problem, so much so that TSMC has been shipping as many tools and equipment as possible, directly from Taiwan to Arizona. TSMC has recently voiced these and other concerns in a letter to the NIST bureau of the USA Commerce Department.
In the relentless production of semiconductor, and the cornering of market segments, the three major countries in Asia: China plusTaiwan, Japan and south Korea are battling to survive in the war of chips, just as the legacy producers are declining, and shifting away from traditional strongholds:
Already Samsung is suffering a specific casualty:
in the midst of attempting to plough in more capitalisation
While, globally, the battle of the Seven Samurai monopoly-capitals continues: