It is not hyperbole to say that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the most important technology company for the country. TSMC is responsible for manufacturing a large number of processing chips for chip designers such as Apple, AMD, Qualcomm, MediaTek, NVIDIA, and even Intel for their latest Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake processors.
TSMC recently opened a new factory in the United States, which is seen to supply processing chips from companies such as AMD, Apple and others specifically for the US market, and now it seems that the Taiwanese government is enforcing a policy that was introduced not long ago.
The factory called Fab21 located in Phoenix, Arizona is now manufacturing processing chips using the N4 process technology, which was used to manufacture Apple’s A16 Bionic processor chip last year. TSMC said that with the introduction of brand-new production technology, the technology process at the factory will also be upgraded, where it will soon use processes such as N3, N2 and A16 that can fit more transistor components in the same processing chip space.
Technically, TSMC can use this semiconductor chip production technology at the Fab21 factory, but the Taiwanese government now says that any technological process used in TSMC's overseas factories must be one generation behind what can be produced in Taiwan.
This policy is called "N-1", and will only allow companies like TSMC to export semiconductor chip production technology that is one generation behind out of the country. This is to maintain Taiwan's position as the most advanced chip manufacturing country in the world.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government also said that they will enforce another law that will block foreign investment if it is found that the investment causes harm to national security, economic development or violates any existing trade agreements.
The Taiwanese government also said that this foreign investment restriction will be implemented even if an investment agreement has been signed by foreign companies and investors if it is found that the law is not being complied with.