Wei Zhejian, president of TSMC, has pointed out that the geopolitical confrontation has distorted the entire market and damaged the productivity and efficiency that globalization had brought. In addition, he has mentioned that these barriers will seriously affect the benefits of a free economy as in the past. He also expressed concern about the weakening of trust and international collaboration and the difficulty of working together between the United States and China.

Wei has asked whether it is realistic for everyone to want to build their own semiconductor fabs and has pointed out that even within his own company, transferring the technology developed from Hsinchu to Tainan took a lot of effort and hard work, not to mention the move to the United States. He has also mentioned that his company is in Japan solely because of customer demand and that customer needs are his top priority. As for Japan’s ambitions to return to advanced chip manufacturing, Wei has pointed out that it may be a difficult task for Japan to surpass other players in the industry and mentioned the need for a comprehensive approach to chip manufacturing.