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Strategic Vision vol. 10, no. 51 (December, 2021)
Sweetening the Pot Taiwan leverages its semiconductor chip sector to boost relations with US, Japan Tobias Burgers
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emiconductor chips are currently among the hottest commodities in demand, save only for COVID-19 vaccines. It quickly becomes apparent why these tiny chips—their sizes measured in nanometers—are essential for producing a wide range of products: from phone screens and computers, cars, civil and military aircraft, hypersonic missiles, to next-generation autonomous cars. Chips are the digital heart of these devices, enabling them to function as needed. Their importance and scarcity have fueled a global race to research, develop and produce current and next-generation chips. This race, an economic incen-
tive as well as a geopolitical one, is nowhere more visible than in the Asian-Pacific region: Through its Made in China 2025 initiative, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seeks to become the global leader in developing and producing chips. The Chinese government has made billions of dollars available to fund this development, and something of the wild, at times ineffective, race has pushed the Chinese tech sector to develop next-generation chips. The importance of chips for the PRC is illustrated in the recent decision by Chinese president Xi Jinping to appoint his top economic advisor Liu He as the lead person to develop an effective governance platform to stimulate
photo: ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Compared to chipakers in Taiwan, the American and Japanese semiconductor industries are a shadow of their former selves.
Dr. Tobias Burgers is an assistant professor at the Cyber Civilization Research Center at Keio University in Japan. He can be reached at tobias.burgers@pm.me