The 2024 Taiwanese Elections have come to a close with William Lai of the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) winning a close race against Hou Yu-ih of the KMT (Kuomintang). The Democratic Progressive Party has been ruling over Taiwan for the past 8 years. Its members reject the 1992 “One China” policy, in which Taiwan (aka the Republic of China) is not considered a separate entity. Although never ruling over the island, China has made numerous offers of reunification. This means that the DPP calls for Taiwan’s independence and doesn’t want reunification with China. Hou Yu-ih, however, claims to want to build a relationship with China to lessen the chances of an attack. The KMT is pro- “One China” policy and is favored by Beijing.
Though DPP and KMP were the main parties, there is another smaller party that also ran in the election. This party is named the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), and is newly run by former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, who has considered making an alliance with the KMT. In combination with already existing conflicts, this political dynamic has put Taiwan in a scary position where a war between China and Taiwan is more probable than before.
Why is this important to us? Taiwan is the leading country in producing semiconductors and the USA heavily relies on Taiwan’s supply. Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) produces more than 60% of the world’s semiconductors and 90% of the most advanced chips. These semiconductors are used in virtually all devices, including smartphones, computers, military devices, and more. In fact, the most common reason that there are current car shortages in the USA is because of a shortage of semiconductors. If China were to have control over Taiwan politically through an election (KMT), or forcefully through an invasion, then China could sway TSMC to cut the supply to the US and the rest of the world. By doing this, China would consequently give themselves and their allies more semiconductors to receive and develop more technologically ahead of their competitors.
This raises the question: why can’t America make its own supply of semiconductors? The semiconductors made in Taiwan are so advanced that no one has been able to catch up with their expertise. They make chips that are the size of a fingernail and have 50 billion transistors inside of them. TSMC’s newest 2nm process is able to make semiconductors with features smaller than the width of a strand of DNA. However, Washington is offering 52 billion dollars to build semiconductor factories in America. This development makes the importance of American-Taiwan relations and the election one of the most important events of 2024.
