Why is Taiwan so important to the US?

The production of high-performance chips has long been dominated by Taiwan, specifically by one company that supplies the vast majority of the world's most advanced semiconductors. Any disruption to the supply chain of this critical commodity would have huge negative impacts on global economies, including that of the US.

Taiwan's strength in semiconductors and U.S. dependence on Taiwan for chips have become synonymous with four letters: TSMC $TSM-the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. TSMC is a semiconductor company that helped Taiwan produce a staggering 63 percent of the world's semiconductor supply in 2020. According to a recent report, TSMC supplied 92 percent of the most advanced chips in 2019.Samsung accounts for the rest.

TSMC is a true leader in the semiconductor foundry market, known for making chips for iPhones, but it also makes semiconductors for Intel. Apple was responsible for about 25 percent of TSMC's total revenue of about $57…