Taiwan's Lai: Status quo is key to secure tech supply chains

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te opened the COMPUTEX technology trade fair in Taipei on Tuesday, saying that maintaining the political status quo is the most responsible approach the island can take to secure global supply chains.

As the home for the world's largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, Taiwan is a key equipment supplier for companies including Nvidia and Apple.

But its political status is a constant source of friction, given that China asserts the island should be part of its territory. For decades an uneasy stalemate has endured whereby Beijing does not give up its claims to Taiwan, or allow others to recognize the island nation diplomatically, but also does not act on its threats of trying to seize the territory.

Lai told assembled executives from various tech giants at the Taipei World Trade Center that his government and territory was of increasing importance to their industry.

"As the world's need for AI grows, so too does its need for a Taiwan that is stable, trustworthy, and capable of shouldering responsibility," Lai said.

"The government will firmly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and is committed to maintaining the status quo," he said, referring to the narrow strip of ocean separating Taiwan and mainland China.

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Large language models and machine learning tools — more commonly referred to with the catch-all term AI — are dependent on high-end chip and semiconductor manufacturers.