loading…
Taiwan’s dominance of the world’s semiconductors makes it a secret weapon that makes it impossible for the island to meet the fate of Ukraine that was invaded by its superpower neighbour. Photo/REUTERS
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Taiwan’s security has been the talk of policy makers and analysts around the world, amid predictions that China could one day follow in Moscow’s footsteps. Beijing has been vowing to take over the self-governing island.
Both Taiwan and Ukraine are young democracies, whose national identity and political independence face threats of aggression from their superpower neighbours.
Taiwan, however, has a little-discussed “secret weapon” that Ukraine lacks—a dominance in semiconductor manufacturing that some analysts say has proved crucial in preventing Beijing’s invasion.
Also read: Russian Nuclear Alert High, US Cancels Minuteman III Intercontinental Missile Test
An invasion of Taiwan could trigger an unprecedented global economic downfall due to the island’s position as the most vulnerable point of failure in the technology value chain.
Taipei’s “silicone shield” keeps the stakes very high for China. While Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to retake the self-governing island by force if necessary, Beijing relies heavily on Taiwanese technology to power key industries it relies on to double gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.
“Taiwan’s unified deterrence strategy should make a clear choice between national goals for Beijing to remain clear,” Jared McKinney, an analyst at Air University, told Al Jazeera. “Either conquer Taiwan or maintain economic prosperity.”
“The question pending is invasion denied,” McKinney said.
Taiwan accounts for 92 percent of global production for semiconductor process nodes under 10 nanometers (1 nanometer is a billionth of a meter), making it a major supplier of most of the chips that power the world’s most advanced engines, from Apple’s iPhone to the F-35 stealth fighter jet. –
