If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an entire industrial and financial ecosystem to build a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant. Just ask the world’s leading chip company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, which manufactures 90 per cent of the world’s highest performing semiconductors. Since its creation in 1987, TSMC has benefited from massive government support and partnered with scores of local investors, companies and educational institutions, weaving an extraordinarily intricate innovative web. TSMC is far more than a private company; it has been described as a project of the Taiwanese state.
In his desire to reshore chip manufacturing capacity to the US, Donald Trump is now cosplaying as a Taiwanese industrial planner. The US government is becoming the biggest shareholder in Intel by taking a 10 per cent equity stake in the struggling US chip company. Trump’s stated aim is to strengthen US manufacturing muscle and “make Intel great” again. He sees it as another “deal” from which his administration can profit.
The trouble is that the US president would appear to lack the strategy, resources and attention span to turn the lossmaking company around. Instead, his spasmodic meddling in the operations of yet another private company is likely to do more harm than good.