The relationship between China and the U.S. is not only at its lowest point in decades, but appears to be trapped in a downward spiral. With Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterating his resolve to reunify Taiwan, many articles and podcasts portrayed Taiwan as a potential flashpoint between US and China, as if Taiwan has no agency, and there is nothing Taiwan could do. Is that true? 7:05 - How Taiwan's democracy evolved over the past 30 years? 12:40 - How are the China-based Taiwanese...

At the CommonWealth semiconductor forum March 16, the 91-year-old TSMC founder Morris Chang reiterated the importance of Taiwan as a major force in semiconductor manufacturing, and stressed that the growing trend of diversification of chip making would result in higher costs. Chris Miller, Associate Professor of International History at Tufts University, gave a brief speech on how TSMC became the most important chipmaker in the world, followed by an hour-long dialogue with Chang, moderated...

For the second episode of the Taiwanology podcast, we hopped on a plane and took a trip to India. The 3 Commonwealth reporters Elaine Huang, Andy Yang and Peiying Hsieh visited India to get insights into the Indian Electronic Manufacturing Industry, and especially the working conditions of Foxconn in India. Recently, India is becoming increasingly important for international electronic manufacturers, partly due to its low labour costs, partly due to rising manufacturing costs in China. ...

For the debut episode of the Taiwanology podcast, we delved into Taiwan’s role in the global chip supply chain. And, most importantly, its role in the chip war. Our guest is Miin Wu, founder of Macronix International, who has over 50 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. If you own a Nintendo Switch or a Canon camera, your device has chips made by Macronix. Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is the most competitive in the world. But what does it mean for Taiwan when geopolitical...