U.S. President Joe Biden, left, visits TSMC’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 6, 2022. (Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
[Look at China, December 8, 2022]TSMC has finally built a new plant in Phoenix, Arizona, and US President Biden’s “thanks” to it are beyond words. TSMC announced its plan to set up a factory in mid-2020, and it took two years of negotiations before the dust settled. Therefore, it has changed from the original “Trump’s victory” to “Biden’s victory.” The arrival of TSMC is seen as the United States‘ clear response to China’s technology threat, but this is a step in the door, and Xi Jinping should be kicked in by himself.
For a long time, the U.S. Department of Defense has been warning that the lack of advanced chip production will be quite detrimental to the U.S. strategy. Therefore, including TSMC, Samsung Electronics, Intel and GlobalFoundries are also companies that the U.S. government has actively contacted. Non-governmental software and hardware equipment, other departments of the United States have also invested in the division of labor layout, the purpose is to ensure that under the continued tension between the United States and China, their own country can have a high degree of control over the global electronics supply chain. TSMC originally hesitated because of cost-effectiveness. In terms of results, this should have received substantial assistance from the local state and the federal government.
In addition, we can also use the changes in Hon Hai’s investment and establishment of factories to distinguish the strategic significance of Taiwanese companies to the United States at this stage. In 2017, Hon Hai announced that it would invest in a world-class LCD panel factory in Wisconsin, which boosted the local manufacturing industry. This investment project will be “the eighth wonder of the world“. But in the past few years, it has been almost idling. Just after TSMC announced the establishment of a factory in Arizona in 2020, Terry Gou issued a statement instead, saying whether Hon Hai will continue this investment project (LCD panel factory in Wisconsin), It depends on whether the U.S. government wants to give relevant support. The answer is clear.
Both started during the Trump era, and both initially had doubts about the high cost of manpower and land in the United States. However, looking back at previous reports, the Trump administration has always been more interested in TSMC, or it has imposed greater designs on it. However, the Wisconsin LCD panel factory, which can increase tens of thousands of job opportunities, has not been seen for a long time. At that time, Trump officials even planned to use “TSMC to set up a factory” as a major publicity campaign in the general election, but there was a political party rotation. Trump was replaced by Biden, and TSMC actually came first. Unanimous ideas, of course, this “consistency” is not limited to semiconductors.
As for what is meant by “Xi Jinping’s finishing touch”, let’s go back to Xi Jinping’s speech after his successful re-election at the 20th National Congress, including his view that “the drastic changes in the international situation, especially the external blackmail, containment, blockade and maximum pressure on China (the CCP) “Attempts” and his inclusion of “struggle” in the party constitution, etc. From the perspective of the United States, this is actually the most disturbing analysis of China’s external strategic environment, because it means that the US-China competition is not only about whether the US feels that China Instead, China is more clearly determined to challenge the United States by means of competition (not even competition).
So, how can the United States not respond to China’s aggressive advances (especially on the chip issue)? Therefore, Biden was urged to control the export of chips by Chinese companies to prevent China from obtaining advanced chip technology, and then follow up and complete the procedures for TSMC to set up a factory in the United States to further prevent Chinese technology from keeping up. In other words, Biden has indeed taken Xi Jinping’s belligerent rhetoric against the United States seriously, rather than tending to interpret it as the ostensibly hawkish speech he needs to strengthen his domestic position.
Therefore, under the tradition that the United States does not directly direct or intervene in private enterprises, TSMC’s visit to the United States to set up a factory this time has also been interpreted as “Biden’s blow to Xi Jinping’s ambition to compete with the United States.” Xi Jinping has demonstrated his power in China. After the scene, Biden showed Xi Jinping the world scene of the United States. He personally attended the ceremony of TSMC’s establishment of the factory, declaring that the meaning is different from Trump’s groundbreaking photo with Guo Taiming in Wisconsin, which is not the same level. A private company settled in the United States, and the joyful and beautiful atmosphere of setting up a factory was accused of being Biden’s desire to prove that the United States still has the fighting power and bite power to defend the country’s status. What more people see is how cautious the Biden administration is. Fear waited (to) this moment.
In September this year, U.S. National Security Adviser Sullivan publicly stated that the U.S. has long focused on the “comparative advantages” of the U.S. and its competitors, such as being “a few generations ahead.” However, given today’s new strategic environment, the U.S. Must “maintain the greatest possible lead”. Geopolitical threats are intensifying day by day, and national technology has already played a key role. What Sullivan said at the time has been equivalent to foretelling the imminent realization of TSMC’s establishment of a factory in the United States. How Biden faces China is tantamount to entering another new situation.
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