[winstongator]

I wonder if TSMC has a self-destruct button. I do not think they want CCP to take over those fabs. Agree, this is a worst case scenario, and we need to get at least one TSMC fab in the US.

[nomel]

> I do not think they want CCP to take over those fabs.

This makes the very incorrect assumption that you could just swap out the TSMC staff and things would continue working. Chip fabrication isn't just about pushing a button to turn on a machine. It requires the massive amounts of esoteric knowledge of all the processes, machines, chip design rules, everything.

[Sateeshm]

I wonder if China already put a few Gales under the Walter Whites of TSMC

[Traster]

I imagine the conversation goes like this "Sorry, Mr Xi Jinping, your bombs caused seismic activity that destroyed the calibration of our machines and of the the 5,000 highly trained engineers we employ, only 2 turned up today and I'm not sure how much work we can expect from Raffles the team mascot.

[indemnity]

Honest question.

Why the assumption that Taiwan would choose death rather than give up their fabs to the Chinese?

I have seen this implicit assumption here a lot, but I just don’t get it.

Why would they smash hundreds of billions of dollars of investment for freedom from the Chinese yoke, if they have to choose between the fabs or lots of people dying?

[thereisnospork]

>Why would they smash hundreds of billions of dollars of investment for freedom from the Chinese yoke, if they have to choose between the fabs or lots of people dying?

MAD, or at least MAW (mutually assured wounding). Taiwan wants China to know that a hostile takeover will cost China TSMC[0] thereby disincentivizing China from taking over Taiwan. To say 'we value our people over our fabs, please show mercy' just makes them all the more likely to be taken over.

[0]including associated international outrage over losing their chip supply.

[dillondoyle]

The same 10s of thousands of Ukrainians are taking up arms: to protect their country and fight for a more free future.

Plus the premise I think is weird. If China is going for TSMC that in itself is already full blown war.

[michaelt]

> Why would they smash hundreds of billions of dollars of investment

Because that's what war is?

Do you imagine America would let itself get invaded, because their trillion-dollar jet fighter program is too expensive to let people shoot at them?

[another_story]

Think about the reaction of Hong Kong to China, now add a military on the Hong Kong side. Taiwan would absolutely defend itself.

[j_walter]

There are a few key points in the process that you could easily disrupt and pretty much cause a scorched earth type of response. There are a few ways to do it as well...like export all of the photo masks to the US or Europe. Those fabs can't produce anything without them...and all of the ones for their Taiwan advanced fabs could probably all be loaded into a dozen or less shipping containers. Destroying them is another way to go about it if you can't get them out of the country safely.

[typ]

You don't really need it. The semiconductor industry relies on equipment and materials from the global supply chain, in particular, the suppliers from Europe, Japan and the US. It's a team game. If the democratic world stopped doing business with TSMC (i.e., a sanction), it would have barely any chance to survive, let alone maintaining the position as an industry leader.

[eric-hu]

I've wondered this as well -- and I wouldn't limit it to TSMC leadership. It could be a Taiwanese program or even a CIA one.

For the other replies to you saying that they can't just use the machines, China has been and likely still is trying to poach semiconductor expertise from Taiwan. One thing they lack is EUV lithography machines. I'm not sure if they ever got to purchase any, but the US government has blocked ASML from selling any to China.

[seanmcdirmid]

They rely on a lot of equipment and materials from the west, and there are many production secrets that are kept under lock and key in the states. So they couldn’t operate for very long without fab equipment from the USA and Germany (which is intentional). It’s like Iran’s F14s, hard to keep going without spare parts.

[YetAnotherNick]

Taiwan could demolish the buildings using house demolition grade TNT. It's harder to destroy the knowledge though.