Taiwan’s biggest trading partners, including China, the US, Europe and Japan, see the political future of the self-ruled island in different ways, but they all have one desire in common: to expand their influence in Taiwan’s high-tech semiconductor industry. .

In recent years, the largest microchip manufacturer, the Taiwan Semiconductor Company, known as TSMC, has committed to building new factories in the US and Japan.

Taiwanese semiconductor development company Media Tek recently partnered with Purdue University to open a new microchip development center.

Taiwan is the largest producer of the most complex microchips in the world, and at the same time, it has begun to become one of the most dangerous geopolitical hotspots.

There are widespread fears that in the event of a conflict, companies will not be able to obtain the microchips they need to manufacture mobile phones and drones, or to run supercomputers and networks, or even to create new weapons.

Tech companies on both sides of the Pacific depend heavily on TSMC for the high-performance microchips that power video game graphics and make smart phones smart. This has made TSMC, whose name is unfamiliar to many consumers, a vital asset for both Washington and Beijing.

In the course of the geopolitical events of the past month, the strength of TSMC and the rest of the semiconductor industry supply chain is evident.

During Ms. Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, she met with TSMC Chairman Mark Liu and company founder Morris Chang, 91, while another delegation led by Senator Edward J. Markey met with company representatives to discuss investment as well as improve the supply chain. .

While some players in the semiconductor industry will turn to the US for support in the event of a conflict with China, they are responding to the difficulty of building new US factories, which is a more costly process. In fact, Mr. Chang repeated it publicly.

TSMC, which refuses to comment on its role in geopolitical events, moves between America and China. However, most of today’s semiconductor manufacturing is in Taiwan, where TSMC continues to develop state-of-the-art factories. In part, this addiction helps keep the peace.

China’s dependence on TSMC and other Taiwanese microchip companies prevents the government from making any incursions into Taiwan. On the other hand, America’s dependency lends additional credibility to US military support.