Ed.'s note: There is a major economic reshuffle going on related to China concerning China's B&RI as we see fallout taking place surrounding whatever happened in Wuhan, China with the coronavirus. What this might indicate with this US Navy guided-missile destroyer sailing through the Taiwan Strait, is not so much to protect Taiwan, but to close off technology transfers especially sensitive microprocessor technology from getting to China from Taiwan only 100 miles away. Last year December, 2019 it was reported an estimated
3,000 electric engineers who left Taiwan for Chinese manufacturers as China works to manufacturer all the chips it needs by 2025. With the rollout of 5G and 5G smart phones, Taiwan's TSMC (the world's biggest contract chip maker) had
huge gains of 54%.
Way back in 2003, there were accusations
China stole TSMC's trade secrets. China's
Huawei is dependent on TSMC for chips in its smart phones and technology. Don't underestimate Taiwan's strength in microprocessor manufacturing. It leads the world. The shipment value of Taiwanese semiconductors was estimated to reach
$82.2 billion in 2018. This in addition to TSMC investing
$3 billion to build a TSMC chip manufacturing facility in China in 2016. TSMC fabs in China are generally 2 generations behind, due to laws in Taiwan to prevent China from access to the technology. As an example: TSMC just started
16nm in China in 2019 when Taiwan already had
7nm.
China's Foundry Biz Takes Big Leap Forward
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing And Micron In The Face Of Huawei Threats And Headwinds - Part 1 TSMC