Leo Says Ep.62 – We NEED Taiwan!

At KitGuru we focus on technology and for obvious reasons we try to avoid politics, religion and mention of the pandemic. In today's episode of Leo Says we have pushed our editorial limits with a video about Taiwan that discusses the importance of TSMC and the peculiar way that Taiwan is diplomatically ignored by almost every nation on the planet.

The UK Government has published a Green List of 12 destinations that we Brits will soon be able to visit without the need to quarantine on our return to the UK.

• Portugal
• Israel
• Singapore
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Brunei
• Iceland
• Gibraltar
• Falkland Islands
• Faroe Islands
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
• St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island

You will note that Taiwan is missing from the list, despite its stellar virus containment, and most likely that is because Taiwan does not officially exist as a nation. That may sound like a bizarre statement and for the full background we recommend a video produced by The Economist titled ‘Is Taiwan part of China?’ that explains the fascinating history of Taiwan.

There are many reasons why we want Taiwan to maintain its independence from PRC, and TSMC's status as the world's leading foundry is close to the top of that list.

These charts from TSMC give us a clear picture of TSMC's lead in fabrication technology over Intel and Samsung and thir plans for captial expenditure make it plain that Taiwan and TSMC will fight hard to miantain their lead.

Leo's notes:

TSMC will spend US$100 billion in the next three years with US$30 billion ‘this year’
(Not certain whether that is 2021 or Q1 2021 to Q1 2022)

Intel is building two new fabs at its Ocotillo campus in Arizona
Intel Capex budget for 2021 is USS19-20 billion
(in 2020 they spent US$14.3 billion and in 2019 US$16.2 billion)

SMIC will invest US$2.35 billion in Shenzen and should come online in 2022

TSMC is building a fab in Arizona, although surely not at the cutting edge
Samsung will expand their fab in Austin, TX

In December 2020 the EU announced they would deliver a 2nm fab somewhere in the EU by 2030 with a proposed budget of Euros 145 billion.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Even the slightest problem at TSMC sends shock waves around the world, so the outbreak of military conflict could bring global supply chains to a complete halt.

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