What are the geopolitical consequence of a de-coupled chip supply chain? Recall TSMC is headquartered in Taiwan, which has been a point of contention in US-China relationship since the 1950s. Please discuss civilly.
My implication here being that China is aware that they are capable of making an unstoppable strike against all TSMC's leading edge fabrication capacity, and that this action would be far more harmful to the strategic positioning of the US than to any other nation on earth. The ability to execute this option is time-limited by the US wishing to grow domestic capacity.
Whether this implication holds in reality is something I am very much open to suggestion on. I am fully aware that the US military's response to such an action is probably the leading reason it is not something we have seen occur already. I am also unsure if the impact of all 7nm node loss is substantially greater for the US vs any other country.
On one hand, this could cause other countries to pay more attention to the situation, since -they- will still be dependent on TSMC and may not have the US doing all the posturing.
But that's assuming we wound up truly 'de-coupled'. TSMC tends to be the leader in fab tech, and I am fairly certain any near term plans will involve providing incentive for TSMC to build more fabs in the US.