Chris Miller, author of “Chip Wars”, visited Taiwan on March 15th and met with the Semiconductor Industry Policy Research Team at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET). They exchanged views on the current issues of semiconductor supply chains and techno-geopolitics.
During the meeting, discussions focused on the content of “Chip Wars” and the challenges faced by the semiconductor supply chain due to geopolitical factors and the opportunities and risks for Taiwan in the process of supply chain restructuring.
Chris Miller remarked that Taiwan is already one of the most critical players in the semiconductor supply chain and is expected to continue leading in advanced process research and manufacturing capabilities. However, governments around the world are also considering what policies can better assist the development of the semiconductor industry. According to his observations, several trends are likely to strengthen, such as the focus on chip design and system integration and the establishment of semiconductor data centers, which will be key concerns of government industrial policies. It is essential to consider how to operate such data centers in the new era, including issues such as whether power sources can support them and the training and deployment of artificial intelligence.
The United States is attempting to mitigate the risk posed by China in the semiconductor industry by imposing controls on advanced process chips. While this has prompted China to strive for greater autonomy in chip manufacturing, Chris Miller believes such measures have helped slow down China’s progress in the semiconductor industry. Of course, the United States needs to establish a new alliance control framework for implementing regulatory measures. However, the conflicts that may arise between commercial interests and technology control policies among countries, as well as how to form a new regulatory framework and how key allied nations in the semiconductor supply chain can join, are inevitable issues to be explored jointly in the geopolitical context in the future. Chris Miller also exchanged observations with the DSET team on countries that play essential roles or have potential in the supply chain, including the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, India, and others. The dialogue highlighted the high complexity the global semiconductor supply chain faces today. In a chaotic and uncertain global environment, countries need to balance commercial interests and government policies while ensuring the security and reliability of the supply chain, requiring international cooperation and coordination. At the same time, Taiwan occupies a crucial position in the supply chain. How to maintain its advantage in the future and what risks it will face are topics that both the DSET team and Chris Miller exchanged opinions and ideas on. Through mutual understanding and dialogue, both sides from Taiwan and the United States have contributed to further enhancing their knowledge of policy thinking.
