China has accused Taiwan of attempting to give away its semiconductor industry to the United States as a “souvenir” and leverage it to seek political support from Washington.
Taiwan is a major player in the global semiconductor industry, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) being the world’s largest contract chipmaker. TSMC supplies chips to major tech companies like Apple and Nvidia.
According to recent reports in the U.S. media, TSMC has been in talks with Intel, a leading U.S. semiconductor company. The talks are rumored to involve a potential stake in Intel. However, neither TSMC nor Intel has officially confirmed these discussions.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, February 26, Spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhu Fenglian criticized Taiwan’s government, accusing them of selling out to the U.S. and using the semiconductor industry as a ‘souvenir’ to seek political support.
“In order to seek selfish gain, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have freely made demands from external forces, using Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and powerful companies to get a foot in the door to relying on foreign countries to seek independence, and even give them away as souvenirs, Zhu Fenglian said.
She added: “This sort of shameless selling out of Taiwan is in actuality pandering to the United States.”
The United States and Taiwan have not formally responded to those allegations by China.
