It was July 2021. The world was in the throes of a severe chip crisis. At such a time, an analyst asked Mark Liu, chairman of TSMC, the center of the technology world, a strange question: "Aren't your customers worried when China threatens war with Taiwan?"
In early 2021, the then-US President Joe Biden called a special Zoom meeting at the White House. Addressing nineteen CEOs of the world's largest technology and manufacturing companies, he held up a twelve-inch-long silicon wafer. He said that unless America invested 'big and bold', it would fall behind in global competition. So 'we have to play the game harder'.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was then the chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (2015). Naturally, he regularly traveled to Washington, where he made the usual business demands such as tax cuts or loosening regulations. But that year he stopped asking for business benefits, saying directly, “The way China is rushing to take over our chip industry is dangerous for America. We need to take action now.”
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei may seem like a quiet Silicon Valley executive at first glance. But his company's global influence is far greater than that simple appearance suggests. The mobile networks of countless countries around the world - which carry our daily voice calls, messages, and data - rely on Huawei equipment. In many places, it is almost impossible to get mobile phone service without using Huawei's network.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping stood before world leaders on the stage of Davos in Switzerland in 2017, his voice was filled with a message of peace. While newly elected Donald Trump was calling for 'America First', Xi spoke of 'mutual benefit' in global trade - the media gave him the title of 'protector of globalization'. But behind that seemingly calm and generous declaration, a different plan was going on inside.
For decades, Intel was the undisputed leader in the semiconductor world, a symbol of American technological prowess. The microprocessors they invented, along with the famous x86 architecture, were the lifeblood of everything from PCs to data centers.