Taiwan's chips link global partners, strengthen supply chain
Taiwan is pitching its chip industry as the hub of a wider global network, a positive message for chipmakers and their partners but also a reminder of how much the world depends on one island.
- Taiwan says its chip cluster now ties together research and production across dozens of countries, making supply chains harder to break.
- Nvidia, Micron and AMD are all pouring large sums into Taiwan, while TSMC is adding another $100 billion in Arizona and building plants in Japan and Germany.
- The global chip market is set to top $1.5 trillion this year, covering everything from design to packaging.
- Washington is backing a "Pax Silica" push — a club of trusted partners for chip supply — and calls chips the most important technology of our time, key to AI and defense.
- The warning underneath it all: too much concentration in one place is a weak point, which is why production is spreading out.
Outlook: Expect more Taiwanese chip money to flow into the US, Japan and Europe, with the German plant due to start making chips by the end of next year.