Secretary Raimondo made the statement during a conference of diplomats and senior US officials. Due to tensions between China and Taiwan, the armed conflict could affect the supply of chips by Taiwanese manufacturers.
Taiwan’s TSMC is the world’s largest chip maker. Chip companies such as Mediatek and ASE Group are also Taiwanese. In addition, major manufacturers, such as Apple Foxconn, Pegatron and Quanta suppliers, also come from Taiwan.
50 billion dollars
The US government wants to invest heavily to expand chip production domestically in order to be less dependent on foreign companies. It allocates more than 50 billion dollars for it. However, the US Congress has yet to pass the Biden chip bill, but Republicans matter.
Compared to Russian gas
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers compared America’s dependence on Taiwanese chips to Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas. “People now look at Germany and say, ‘How can they be so dependent on Russian natural gas?'” Soon they will look at us and say, ‘How can we rely on Taiwanese chips?’
Europe
The European Union will also spend billions in the coming years to increase chip production in the European Union. European Union member states also provide government aid to US chip manufacturers. According to German media, Intel will receive billions for the construction of two large chip factories near the German city of Magdeburg.
