2y ago

Key Taiwan Tech Firms Are Helping Huawei With China Chip Plants

www.bloomberg.com Key Taiwan Tech Firms Are Helping Huawei With China Chip Plants

Several Taiwanese technology companies are helping Huawei Technologies Co. build infrastructure for an under-the-radar network of chip plants across southern China, an unusual collaboration that risks inflaming sentiment on a democratic island grappling with Beijing’s growing belligerence.

Full article: https://imgur.com/a/SwMitsV

64 comments

grappling with Beijing’s growing belligerence.
Its what? Western news is so full of shit.
- Developing 5G communications and microchips for cellphones is belligerence. Bombing countries and funneling weapons to proxy wars is peace.

China is helping China develop Chinese chips?
- If the Chinese help China build this Chinese infrastructure, it may reduce Chinese dependence on Chinese chips, since China will be able to produce its own chips instead of buying them from China. This may hurt China economically long term, since China is the largest buyer of Chinese chips by far and if they start buying chips produced in China instead of Chinese chips China's economy might shrink.
  Then again this is probably not that big a deal. Just more anti-Chinese propaganda by the US, pushing for Chinese independence from China, without quite going all the way and recognizing China as its own country, since that would go against the long standing policy that China is one country and China is part of that country.
  
  Okay but how much wood would a wood chuck chuck tho?

No fucking way! You mean a country that's almost completely aligned in terms of culture and language and food, and for which immigration policy is basically an open door, and for which economic coupling is at an all time high... trades with their closest neighbour?
Jesus Christ who comes up with these articles?

I think it's time to bring some democracy and freedom to Taiwan.

Good. Not only one country or society should be able to manufacture advanced technology. Monopolies are bad.
- It's like people have already forgotten about the COVID microchip shortages.

A small country that is economy dependent of another country that happens to be their biggest trader has interest to work with that trading partner.
More at 11

This is a straight-up national security issue for Taiwan. Its chip factories are an integral part of its defence strategy and it needs to be able to use them as leverage to survive.
- In which case Taiwan Province should refuse American demands to build chip factories in the US. If Taiwan's strategic value comes from microchips then the US not having it's own domestic supply prevents the US from walking away.
  On the other hand, reunification has been a core interest for China since long before microchips were even a thing. You could Thanos snap all the chip foundries away tomorrow and the Chinese interest in reunification would not substantially diminish.
  
  Taiwan's (the Republic of China's) alliance with the United States and general defence strategy has a few key factors:
  Taiwan is counting on maintaining a key role in the United States' high-tech economy. One where, if the island of Taiwan were to fall under the control of the mainland, American economic interests would be severely damaged. The existence of semiconductor factories in America doesn't affect this calculus too much as long as a critical mass of manufacturing stays in Taiwan. In fact, tying Taiwan's economy to the United States is beneficial because it means the pain of separating it will be greater, and hopefully the fear of such pain will make the Americans want to protect them.
  Taiwan believes that its location is of strategic importance to the United States' South Asian military interests. If the island falls under mainland control, it would mean that the US military can no longer access the large amount of airspace surrounding the island and would lose access to the island's naval facilities.
  Taiwan thinks that it can make a war with the mainland so costly for the latter that it would not make economic sense to invade. This is unrelated to the US; ideology takes a backseat to making money almost anywhere in the world and the Taiwanese know this.
  Taiwan thinks it can rely on popular and government support in America to defend it in the event of an invasion. Public support for Taiwan's continued autonomous existence is quite high in the US and even Joe Biden's sometimes erratic comments about the topic are enough to make leaders in Beijing think twice before invading. The Americans are unpredictable and they don't want to leave it up to a roll of the dice.
- Except... It's really not? Taiwan's chip factories are simply leverage to drag the West into any potential conflict between the PRC and ROC. Taiwan's defence strategy involves being an island in the ocean built up of mountains, jungle, and cities (all terrain where the defender is extremely favoured), mandatory military service for citizens, and being so economically/culturally tied to the mainland that it's infeasible to break off relations. Taiwan is basically seeking reunification without explicitly seeking reunification: their core defensive strategy relies on being as close to China as possible while being too painful to actually invade.
  Of course, this kind of policy didn't help Cuba, but...
  
  I don't understand the comparison to Cuba, do you mind explaining?

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