Financial TimesFinancial Times

TSMC: The Taiwanese chipmaker caught up in the tech cold war

By Demetri Sevastopulo, Kathrin Hille

24 Oct 2022 · 11 min read

Editor's Note

TSMC finds itself at the centre of both a tug of war between Washington and Taipei and the fiercest front in the new cold war between China and the US.

Taiwan greeted Nancy Pelosi as a true friend when the US House Speaker visited the country in August in what was seen as a demonstration of support against Chinese military threats.

But when President Tsai Ing-wen hosted Pelosi for lunch at a neo-baroque palace in Taipei, two men at the table were a reminder that the friendship is coming under strain: Morris Chang, founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and Mark Liu, chair of the world’s largest contract chipmaker.

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