A new Reuters piece describes new threats to Apple’s chipmaker TSMC as a result of further reported actions by the Chinese government.
Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly told officials that he slept “with one eye open” after attending a classified CIA briefing on Taiwan, and there is no sign that he will be sleeping better anytime soon …
Taiwan’s precarious position
China has long claimed ownership over Taiwan, and has conducted military exercises that included practicing a full-scale blockade of the island, leading to fears that it was planning an invasion.
We suggested in 2022 that the lackluster global response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was likely to embolden China. US and UK security services gave the same warning a few months later. But a potential invasion by China isn’t the only threat to TSMC.
Multiple additional threats
A Reuters report suggests that Taiwan faces three further threats to its independence and its world-leading chip fabrication expertise in particular.
First, China has been making increasing efforts to poach TSMC staff, with the apparent hope that they will bring with them insider knowledge of the chipmaker’s advanced processes. Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said that China “continues to use indirect channels to poach Taiwanese talent, steal technology, and procure controlled goods, with the aim of obtaining key core technologies and products such as Taiwan’s advanced-process chips.”
Second, Taiwan has been subjected to an exceedingly high number of attempted hacks, many of which were against government networks, but TSMC is also likely to be targeted by these.
Taiwan’s Government Service Network was targeted by more than 170 million intrusion attempts in the first quarter of this year, added the reported, delivered ahead of bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen
Finally, the Taiwanese government suspects that China may be planning to interfere in its upcoming elections.
“It cannot be ruled out that the Chinese Communist Party is laying the groundwork to interfere in Taiwan’s year-end elections, with the intent of expanding intelligence collection, surveillance, and data theft,” the report said.
9to5Mac’s Take
We’ve of course commented many times on Apple’s reliance on two countries for its manufacturing operations: China for component production and assembly, and Taiwan for fabrication of its most advanced chips.
Apple has been working to address both issues, with a growing percentage of iPhone production now taking place in India rather than China. The company has also encouraged and supported TSMC in building chip fabrication plants in Arizona.
However, there is only so far it can go where chips are concerned. Apple previously used to split its orders between TSMC and Samsung, but that hasn’t been possible for years due to Taiwan’s strong lead in small-process chipmaking. There is only one company in the world capable of making Apple’s latest chips, and the vulnerability of this arrangement is a price the iPhone maker has to pay.
- Official Apple Store on Amazon
- Apple’s iPhone cases: iPhone 17 | iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max | iPhone Air
- Wireless CarPlay adapter (2026 update)
- AirTag holders and accessories
- Mac Pro-style Mac mini casing
- NordVPN – privacy-first VPN with no logs and independent audits to verify
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments