Earlier quoted context omitted.
ASML will matter for decades unless a competitor surpasses them. US is already blocking them from exporting to China https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-wants-a-chip-machine-from... the company is probably as important as TSMC in terms of geopolitics now
> US is already blocking them from exporting to China Which works until China invades Taiwan. Then what?
Apple, Samsung, Intel, AMD, Texas Instruments, Nvidia, ASML, IBM, and so on. All are now welcome to take TSMC's intellectual property and use it in any way they see fit.
It'll be a spectacular race, and those companies have the resources to pursue it properly.
The same goes for all intellectual property in Taiwan. It all immediately becomes public property, free for anyone to utilize.
Who says? The US Government does, and the Europeans will likely agree. It'll usher in an epic confrontation politically and economically with China. The world will - practically overnight - split into two major factions, as with the Cold War.
Any people inside TSMC that are able to escape, or that are already in the US/Europe/etc, go to work helping the US and its allies to clone TSMC's technology. That includes spending the required sums to build fabs to accomodate that outcome. It'll be relatively easy for TSMC insiders to dump all relevant company trade secrets over to the US and its allies, which would be guaranteed to occur.