China’s capture of Taiwan’s TSMC would be ‘absolutely devastating’ to US: Raimondo | Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Wednesday (May 8) said that if China invades Taiwan and takes control of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), it will have an “absolutely devastating” impact on the US economy.

During a hearing held by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science, Representative Jake Ellzey asked what would happen if China invaded Taiwan and locked down the South China Sea to US commerce and took over TSMC. Raimondo replied, “It would be absolutely devastating.”

When asked how devastating such actions would be, Raimondo declined to comment on the likelihood or timing of such an attack, but said, “Right now, the United States buys 92% of its leading-edge chips from TSMC in Taiwan.”

Ellzey then asked Raimondo to confirm that Taiwan is two generations ahead of the US in semiconductor technology. Raimondo said they are “vastly ahead of anything we are doing in the United States,” but emphasized that TSMC has just announced plans to build its most advanced 2 nm and 3 nm chips in Arizona.

Ellzey concluded that until such plants are online, “they are a strategic asset in Taiwan, which makes it essential for us to defend the South China Sea and Taiwan, not just one place.” Raimondo agreed with his assertions.

In an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” in April, Raimondo said, “We have the most advanced semiconductors in the world, China doesn’t.” When she claimed “We’ve out-innovated China,” Leslie Stahl asked whether “We” meant Taiwan, to which Raimondo responded “Fair.”