One reason China may soon invade Taiwan is to capture the island’s uniquely valuable semiconductor production facilities. Taiwan’s crown jewel of chip manufacturing, TSMC, produces more than 90% of the world’s cutting-edge semiconductors. China could hold the United States and its allies economically hostage if it took the island democracy. Deterring the invasion of Taiwan is a daunting military and diplomatic undertaking alone, but the U.S. must think about how to avert economic disaster should deterrence fail. One way to mitigate the threat to the global economy would be to evacuate Taiwan’s most skilled engineers when war appears imminent.
Bringing a couple of thousand engineers to the United States would deny Chinese occupiers the full value of TSMC’s chip factories post-invasion and secure the sufficient talent to lead the herculean national effort to save the U.S. economy by crash-building a TSMC based in the United States. Taiwanese engineers would staff the factory floors and management offices of the new American semiconductor industry.
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