Seize iPhone chipmaker if more sanctions are imposed by US: Chinese economist
The US and the western world at large have openly sided with Ukraine during the recent conflict and have also imposed punitive sanctions on Russia. Fearing the same level of wrath, a Chinese economist has suggested that the country should be ready to take over Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which is the world's largest chip maker and a key supply chain partner to Apple.
China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that it will annex one day, whereas Taiwan considers itself an independent country. Until recently, the US had formal ties with China but the tone has changed now and president Joe Biden has said that the US would defend Taiwan militarily should the need arise. He also compared any possible Chinese attack on Taiwan with Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
The US and China already have a sour relationship, largely because the former has blacklisted giants like mobile maker Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) on suspicion that they are linked to the Chinese government and spy for them.
In light of the latest developments, top Chinese economist Chen Wenling has suggested that in the event that the US levies devastating sanctions on China, the country should reclaim Taiwan and seize corporations like TSMC.
If the US and the West impose destructive sanctions on China like sanctions against Russia, we must recover Taiwan. Especially in the reconstruction of the industrial chain and supply chain, we must seize TSMC. They are speeding up the transfer to the US to build six factories there. We must not let all the goals of the transfer be achieved." - Chen Wenling
This would be a blow to Apple as the Cupertino giant relies on TSMC to manufacture chips for the iPhone, iPad, and Macs. No other company comes close, including Samsung which lost Qualcomm to TSMC because the former was apparently not satisfied with the high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip that the South Korean company manufactured.
TSMC makes most of its chips in Taiwan and also has facilities in China and the US. The company is allegedly planning to build six fabs in the US over the next two to three years. China is of course well aware of that and Chen has suggested that the country must intervene to prevent the US from achieving this goal. Many of the best phones of 2022 are powered by chips manufactured by TSMC.
Although most analysts believe that China is unlikely to attack Taiwan anytime soon, nothing should be ruled out, given the world is becoming more and more unpredictable.
Meanwhile, TSMC is allegedly gearing up for mass production of the rumored M2 Pro chip that will be built using its 3nm process node. The same tech might also be used to manufacture next year's iPhone 15's A17 Bionic chip,
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