US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has met Mark Liu, Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest computer chip manufacturer, according to the Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times.
The meeting was part of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which wrapped up earlier on Wednesday.
The Liberty Times reported that Pelosi and Liu discussed, among other things, the implementation of the recently-passed US Chips and Science Act, which stipulates $52 billion of federal subsidies for domestic chip factories. Neither Pelosi’s team nor TSMC has commented on the meeting yet.
The Taiwanese chipmaking giant remains the exclusive supplier of Apple Inc.’s Silicon processors for iPhones and Mac PCs as well as the manufacturing partner of other US companies, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Broadcom Inc. and Qualcomm Inc.
TSMC is also currently building a $12 billion factory for making advanced electronic products in Arizona to help boost chip production on US territory.
The Pelosi-Liu meeting came against the backdrop of rising tensions around Taiwan caused by the House speaker’s visit to the island as part of her Asian tour that has been underway since last week. While China has condemned the visit and warned of far-reaching consequences, also kicking off large-scale military drills in the region in a show of force, the White House has argued that Pelosi’s visit does not constitute a violation of China's sovereignty.
In a separate development this week, Liu told CNN that if Taiwan were invaded by China, the TSMC plant would not be able to operate because it relies on global supply chains.
“Nobody can control TSMC by force. If you take a military force or invasion, you will render TSMC factory not operable. Because this is such a sophisticated manufacturing facility, it depends on real-time connection with the outside world, with Europe, with Japan, with US, from materials to chemicals to spare parts to engineering software and diagnosis,” he emphasized.