TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou sat next to US Secretary of State Blinken at the welcome dinner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' informal meeting on Thursday (November 17) and talked with each other.
According to Taiwan's "Liberty Times" report, Zhang Zhongmou is Taiwan's representative to attend APEC. This is his sixth time to represent Taiwan to attend APEC leaders. The APEC welcome dinner was attended by leaders of various economies by default, but since US Vice President Harris had not yet arrived in Bangkok, Blinken attended on his behalf.
The interaction between Zhang Zhongmou and Blinken has attracted the attention of Taiwan media, because the United States is currently vigorously "de-sinicizing" the chip supply chain. In order to protect national security and economic interests, the U.S. Department of Commerce updated its export controls on October 7 this year, restricting mainland China from purchasing advanced and high-performance computing chips and semiconductor production equipment.
TSMC, led by Zhang Zhongmou, is the world's largest foundry chip maker, and it is caught between strict restrictions in China, the largest export market, and the United States. It is in a delicate and difficult position.
Under pressure from the United States, TSMC announced last week that it is considering building a second chip factory in Arizona, USA. According to a report by Bloomberg in October, TSMC has suspended the production of advanced chips for mainland China semiconductor designer Biren Technology in order to ensure compliance with the US restrictions.
