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TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

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41–50 of 121 posts

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#41
post #18
post #5

Fascinating. Stories like this really make me want to learn Chinese and/or move there for a while. The story highlights how they were able to benefit from US culture and education, to the point where they now took the lead. I wonder how the West could benefit from Asian culture.

The cultural belief that other countries do things better is what you describe. It's pretty Australian and American to think your country is the best at most things.

"Exceptionalism" is pretty common among many cultures. The term "Chinese Exceptionalism" is used pretty widely these days.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#42
post #24
post #5

Fascinating. Stories like this really make me want to learn Chinese and/or move there for a while. The story highlights how they were able to benefit from US culture and education, to the point where they now took the lead. I wonder how the West could benefit from Asian culture.

the context behind such article I think should be provided.. China regards Taiwan as part of China, whether right now or eventually depends on how much CCP koolaid they've consumed. The whole Huawei chip ban from the US really shook Chinese to the core, and suddenly TSMC became strategic asset. And this is one of those articles wanting to sensationalise the history a bit. Largest grains of salt for me. Chinese have i…

> China regards Taiwan as part of China, whether right now or eventually depends on how much CCP koolaid they've consumed.

The problem with using "China" here is that it is always misleading if people have no prior knowledge of the situation.

Specifically "China" here means "People's Republic of China" because they consider that the "Republic of China" ceased to exist in 1949 and Taiwan, as a province of the Republic of China automatically moved under the PRC sovereignty. Conversely the Republic of China (in Taiwan now) does not officially recognises the PRC.

So it's a bit like if the two Koreas refused to acknowledge the existence of each other and claimed the whole peninsula for themselves, which I believe is actually not far from the situation there. But it's more complicated with China because of the existence of a "3rd faction" in Taiwan that would like to see Taiwan independent of any Chinese state whatever that state might be.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#43
post #5

Fascinating. Stories like this really make me want to learn Chinese and/or move there for a while. The story highlights how they were able to benefit from US culture and education, to the point where they now took the lead. I wonder how the West could benefit from Asian culture.

You should check the Taiwan Gold Card1[1] visa that gives you a resident permit for 3 years. It is quite easy to get, just earn more than usd5.5k/month at your last/current job, or work in a "trendy" field (AI/big data/energy/biotech...). Happy to reply to any questions

[1] https://taiwangoldcard.com

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian... I have no idea where this idea comes from. American Exceptionalism has historically been a thing, but other than a general impression that equipment which have been designed and built locally in Australia tend to be above average assuming that it wasn’t built to be the cheapest... the idea that “our stuff is the best” has never really been a thing, except maybe Beer... and only among people who ar…

> the idea that “our stuff is the best” has never really been a thing, except maybe Beer... and only among people who are obviously fans of that beer. Are you saying that Ozzies regard their beer as world-beating (or are you saying the opposite) – I can't parse that sentence …

Are you saying that Ozzies regard their beer as world-beating

Australians are very proud of their flagship beers, Fosters and Castlemaine XXXX, but they are not considered premium products in any country with a beer-drinking tradition.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#45
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the context behind such article I think should be provided.. China regards Taiwan as part of China, whether right now or eventually depends on how much CCP koolaid they've consumed. The whole Huawei chip ban from the US really shook Chinese to the core, and suddenly TSMC became strategic asset. And this is one of those articles wanting to sensationalise the history a bit. Largest grains of salt for me. Chinese have i…

Lots of Taiwanese see themselves as Chinese; not under the same government. But of the same people.

% lower and lower. The recent 228 isa case. Many Taiwanese considered themselves Japanese as well. And many just Taiwanese. Let there be a vote ... actually it has been voted sort of.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#46
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the context behind such article I think should be provided.. China regards Taiwan as part of China, whether right now or eventually depends on how much CCP koolaid they've consumed. The whole Huawei chip ban from the US really shook Chinese to the core, and suddenly TSMC became strategic asset. And this is one of those articles wanting to sensationalise the history a bit. Largest grains of salt for me. Chinese have i…

Lots of Taiwanese see themselves as Chinese; not under the same government. But of the same people.

To clarify this, they see themselves as part of the Chinese civilization (華人 = hua ren). A lot of Chinese diaspora do as well, for example Chinese Singaporeans are part this cultural sphere.

Taiwanese people have another term for Chinese Mainlanders (大陸人 = da lu ren).

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#47
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States doesn't "need" Ukraine in the way the United States "needs" access to the most advanced digital chip creation technology in the world. If Ukraine disappears tomorrow, we lose the next Milla Jovovich and Mila Kunis. A bummer, yes, but not an end to our way of life.

If Ukraine disappears tomorrow, Western Europe will follow, and with that the only US platz d'arme in Asia against Russia, and the only remaining US nuclear allies. Following this, don't think you will be able to leisurely spend the remaining of your life. Everybody down to your granny will be forcefully drafted, and mobilised.

As recently as 1989, not only Ukraine, but all of Eastern Europe was aligned with Russia/USSR. Strangely, Western Europe was not drafting grandmothers at that time.

I don't see any reason to think that Putin wants to do more than control his near abroad. He doesn't have an expansionist ideology. He likes being rich and controlling his periphery and sticking a thumb in the eye of the West, but if he e.g. invaded and conquered Paris, where would he exile his oligarchs when he needs them to take a time out for a while? He needs the West as a pressure valve. As long as he can still have you murdered at your hotel in DC (Mikhail Lesin), he can keep you in line without needing to have ships in the Potomac.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#48
post #2

Interesting read. A little "florid" perhaps, some turns of phrase probably don't survive translation. I don't envy anyone who works the midnight shift in a 24/7 r&d boilerhouse. Liver eater indeed. Given US strategic concerns in VLSI we are probably going to see another slightly different chapter in this story:TSMC being induced to bring core IPR inside domestic US production, presumably for cash injection and guaran…

Inducing TSMC to bring production capability into the US is all benefits for the US but strategically it is bad for Taiwan. Indeed, if there are enough fabs in the US then the continued availability of fabs in Taiwan is much less important for the US, and thus Taiwan becomes less important for the US, which obviously has consequences in terms of any US involvement in defence of Taiwan in case of a military conflict w…

It can be good for TSMC, due to increased revenue, forestalling competition, reduced risk (earthquake, geopolitical etc).

Whether these things are good for Taiwan at large is a matter of discussion; the decision is not obvious.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#49

I've seen a few of these on Google docs recently - is there a way they can turn the obnoxious margins off on mobile, it's not possible to read on there with 1 inch of padding on each side of the phone....

Safari reader mode improves things tremendously.

Re: TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife

#50
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you be a bit more specific in what agreement the Obama admin did not honor? Which parts and how?

He's implying Euromaiden in 2014 as a EU and US instigated event to erode Ukraine's political independence, thus, justifying Russia's invasion of the Crimea. We should know by now whenever region moves away from an authoritarian power's orbit is regarded by these powers' as some kind of foreign influence and subversive operation. They think it's impossible that the people themselves actually don't like authoritarian…

"Euromaiden" is a funny typo.
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