Semiconductors are among the most ubiquitous and fought-after segments of the world’s economy. They are an essential component of the chips used in modern technology, from smartphones to cars, advanced healthcare diagnostics and military systems. Large parts of everyday life — as well as governments’ ability to take certain strategic decisions — would disappear without them.
There is, however, just one nucleus of this essential global supply chain: Taiwan, where 90 per cent of the world’s most advanced chips and the vast majority of all semiconductors are produced.
