TSMC Founder Says Free Trade Recently Comes With ‘Conditions’
TSMC Founder Says Free Trade Recently Comes With ‘Conditions’
(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. founder Morris Chang reiterated the value of free trade to solve supply problems in the critical chip industry, while cautioning that’s been accompanied by more conditions of late.
Chang, who was speaking as Taiwan’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting, on Friday said there’s concern that “recently ‘free trade’ seems to carry more conditions and qualifications than it used to.” Such “conditions” referred to the U.S. planning to make more chips domestically, he later told a media briefing.
His comments come as Taiwan’s dominant position in the semiconductor business has come under pressure, amid the persistent global chip shortage and calls in Washington and Beijing for domestic chipmakers to increase self-reliance. TSMC itself, as the world’s biggest chipmaker, will build a plant in Japan and is considering a new factory in Germany.
“While shortage of any critical component is a serious problem, free market, which includes free trade and free competition, is still the best solution,” Chang said. He has previously warned that efforts by governments around the world to build domestic chip supply chains could push up costs and still fail to achieve self-sufficiency.
Chang said that the stepped-up building of chip making capacity, in response to recent shortages, underscores the importance of the free market. The shortage is a culmination of an original under-estimation of demand, natural disasters, logistical jams and a surge in digital demand, he said.
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