How Taiwan Will Stop China's Invasion

Select video clips courtesy of Getty Images

Select video clips courtesy of the AP Archive

Special thanks to MapTiler, OpenStreetMap Contributors, and GEOlayers

[levib]

I have a clarification: China can only claim to have the most boats of any Navy because it counts every single ship no matter how small. By displacement, the US Navy is twice the total size, and their total ship count is lower because they don't include any ship smaller than a destroyer. There's also all the ships owned by the US Marines that aren't included in the Navy's count

[tramsung]

As someone who leaves in Taiwan, we just want peace, whatever it looks like, might it be keeping the status quo, or independence. We just want to keep enjoying the achievements made in here

[gwendolinechen]

As a Taiwanese with friends and families working for TSMC, I just want to mention that despite the many criticisms around the TSMC’s foundry in the US and the threat to US’s willingness to protect Taiwan in the event of an invasion, the foundry they built in the US is leagues behind the foundries in Taiwan in terms of what they make. TSMC effectively out-source the manufacturing of the last generation of semiconductors (4nm) to the US, so the foundries in Taiwan can focus on the next generation (3nm). By the time the first TSMC US foundry starts actually churning out semiconductors (estimate to be 2025), the foundry in Taiwan is going to be two generations ahead (2nm). Even with the newly announced second US foundry and its 3nm manufacturing ability which is shooting to start production in 2026, there are still years before it starts to actually join the supply chain and catches up to what Taiwan’s foundries have already been making right now, which are currently used in the iPhone 15 series.
Most of the criticisms coming from inside the TSMC itself is on the fact that manufacturing in the US will drastically increase the cost, and the integration of US work culture and Taiwanese management is not going to go well. (The production process of semiconductors requires 24/7 monitoring, which means that most of the engineers in TSMC are, though well-compensated, highly over-worked.) These worries have been proven to be true from the fact that the US foundry’s production timeline has been delayed many times.

[soccernoodlex]

I am an asian American, born in California but I travel between Taiwan and the us quite often. Although my family is from Hong Kong, many of my relatives live in Taiwan. From my understanding, most people just dont really want to deal with china. They want things to continue as they are, they’re content not being completely independent as long as china doesn’t start forcing anything upon them.

[Paragon._.]

Credit where credit is due, Taiwan's idea and movement to become one of the largest semiconductor manufacture during a time where computers where rising for foreign protection was smart.

[andyyang]

The mastermind behind Taiwan's semiconducter plan was then-minister of economic Affairs Yun-suan Sun and former RCA engineer Wen-Yuan Pan. Sun was tasked by then-premier Chiang Ching-kuo to identify a technological field that would suit Taiwan, and over one breakfast in 1974, Pan persuded Sun that Semiconductors were the way to go.

Sun used his position as Minister to seek out and persude talents (especially Taiwanese working abroad) to join the cause, while Pan used his old contacts at RCA to ink a 10 year deal that would allow Taiwan to manufacture low-end chips for RCA televisions. These efforts culminated in Taiwan's first domestic 3-in silicon wafer in 1977.

UMC and TSMC entered the picture much later, with UMC first in 1980, and TSMC later in 1985. Morris Chang, as the video stated, was the one that introduced the concept of a fab, but he was not really as prominent in Taiwan's semicon history as the video suggests. By the time TSMC entered production, Taiwan was already a thriving chip manufacturing hub with UMC at the helm.

Therefore Pan is usually considered the father of Taiwanese IC industry, not Morris Chang, despite Chang's outsized contributions to Taiwan's position today.

[richardkranium]

Binge watching this series all day. Damn, earphone at work as well. There’s a well laid out explanation of problems in these.

[andrewmorgan]

My grandfather installed the very first semiconductor ovens in Taiwan. I genuinely wonder if he had any idea of the effect on geopolitics would be.

[maximusoptimusTECH]

This video is exactly what I’m trying to explain every time someone brings up the topic of China invading Taiwan. If you remember the chip shortage during COVID you know what even a very tiny disruption of that supply chain can cause. Now imagine if 60-90% of all chip production suddenly gone, that would surely be an economic catastrophe never seen before and hardly even imaginable…

[Grak]

I love how every stock video of a fab in this, even the 300mm footage, is practically ancient history from a semiconductor perspective. The unspoken truth of any advanced fab is how secretive they are. Even layout or equipment vendor labels would suggest certain details about design and technology that advanced fabs need to keep secret.

[MyPencilBroke]

As a Dutchie I can relate to the TSMC shield, we have their machine supplier ASML, no one's touching Eindhoven.

[spirolabsmontreal]

You do a great job to present and inform. Thannks for the work.

[DarthNoshitam]

Gotta love the pivot from "TikTok is part of China's digital warfare arsenal" to "Use NordVPN to access TikTok" 😂

[amorencinteroph]

To be fair to the weakening of the Silicon Shield, Europe also believed that the economic relationship with Russian gas would deter Russia from aggression, and that has failed abysmally.

[LegoCookieDoggie]

This video made me think about one of my fears waking up one day and seeing “Taiwan” trending. Not only for my han Chinese ethnic group, but also the indigenous people of the island. Our culture and accent has always been distinguishable from a mainland Chinese person, but most foreigners think we are all grouped together. I miss my culture being a international student that is actually from the US and people know I’m also American but I continue to hold on my Taiwanese identity whenever I can.

[georgebowman]

This is an Informative, well done, and well thought 💭🤔 out video with correct maps and charts to make it interesting. This person did his research and gives me more in-depth understanding on the importance of Taiwan on a global scale, the battle for Taiwan and howTaiwan can defend itself.

[SWANNwillSUFFICE]

The new American foundries aren't meant to be able to replace Taiwan. They only aim to reduce the blow if Taiwan is invaded and prevent the US from being totally screwed in the short-term. Like you said Taiwan will always be the producers of the most advanced nodes so there is no such thing as replacing them outright - therefore their security is still strategically paramount to the US and EU.

[supersardonic]

The original title is "How Taiwan Will Stop China's Invasion" for the lore masters out there.

[jimlawton]

I love the way you say compulsorary twice with such confidence, I actually had to check. It’s compulsory 😅

[professorb]

8:13 “guess what kind of bug I caught”
“No, you guess first “