Intel CEO calls Taiwan unstable and questions chip dependency on Asia, TSMC responds
Intel’s Pat Gelsinger questioned Taiwan’s stability, while TSMC’s Mark Liu questioned whether anyone will agree with Intel.
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What you need to know
Intel’s CEO has had a long history of railing againstglobal dependency on Asiafor chipmaking needs. However, his latest comments have attracted a direct response from TSMC, which took an opposing stance on the matter.
While speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech summit, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger backed up his stance that the U.S. government should subsidize domestic companies exclusively when it comes to how itspends the $52 billionit has reserved for chipmakers. He pointed to Taiwan as an example of why a foreign investment could be bad, given China’s activity in the region. He called Taiwan “not a stable place.”
As reported by theTapei Times, when referencing China’s activities regarding Taiwan, Gelsinger asked whether said operations “make you more comfortable or less if you’re now dependent on Taiwan as the singular source of technology for the most critical aspect of our human existence and our national security and economy for the future?”
These comments managed to earn a response from TSMC chairman Mark Liu a few days later, a man who is not known for publicly addressing such remarks. He commented that “not too many people will believe what Intel says,” according toBloomberg.
“It will be very negative for the United States to subsidize only American companies,” Liu stated. “Unlike Intel, TSMC is very positive about non-U.S. chipmakers expanding capacity in America. It is a great thing.”
Both companies have big operations in the works, including TSMC’s3nm techplans andreported manufacturing contractwith NVIDIA for its RTX 40-series graphics cards.
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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.
