TAIWAN Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chief executive CC Wei warned of the dangers of excessive government export controls, reports Bloomberg.
‘Export controls and banning products from other foreign countries destroy productivity and efficiency gained under globalisation, or at least they reduce benefits offered by a free market,’ said Mr Wei.
‘But the scariest thing is that mutual trust and cooperation among countries is beginning to weaken.’
Meanwhile, the US recently blacklisted more Chinese companies and escalated trade tensions.
The measures included dozens of Chinese technology companies on its Entity List, making it almost impossible for them to secure critical foreign components and causing a trade conflict between the US and China.
The news follows the Biden administration’s implementation of tough export controls to prevent China from buying or making leading-edge semiconductors.
Mr Wei declared multilateral export controls will create many challenges for China’s chip industry.
tsmc is now building plants in Arizona and Japan due to concerns from customers and major governments that the world’s chip production is too centralised in Taiwan.
Mr Wei said TSMC is constructing new fabs to satisfy its customers’ demand rather than fulfill requests from foreign governments.
Furthermore, Mr Wei stated TSMC’s building in Kumamoto prefecture in Japan is aimed at helping Sony Group supply enough chips to TSMC’s biggest customer, Apple.
