Taiwan Chooses Sides: The Axe Blow to Huawei Shakes Up the Tech War

In a decisive escalation of the global technology war, Taiwan has added Chinese giants Huawei and SMIC to its export blacklist, cutting off their access to the world's most advanced and crucial semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. It's a declaration of loyalty to Washington and a direct blow to Beijing's ambitions.

The measure, announced by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, is unequivocal. Any Taiwanese company, including the global industry leader, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), will now require a special government license to export any semiconductor-related technology, equipment, or materials to Huawei, SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.), or their overseas subsidiaries.

In practice, this represents an almost total blockade. Taiwan's decision to place these companies on its "Strategic High-Tech Entity List" formalizes and tightens restrictions that were already in place under pressure from the United States. It closes any legal loopholes or gray areas that Chinese companies may have been exploiting to access Taiwanese technology.

The timing and focus of the ban are strategic. The restrictions specifically target the technologies needed to build chip manufacturing plants (fab-building) and the equipment essential to producing the cutting-edge semiconductors that power artificial intelligence (AI). This is the key battleground where China desperately seeks to compete with US leaders like Nvidia.

By cutting off access to these critical components, Taiwan is attempting to strangle China's ability to develop its own high-performance AI chip industry, directly aligning itself with Washington's strategy of technological containment.

"Taiwan has chosen sides in the escalating technological Cold War." – Analysis based on reports on the measure.

Taiwan's decision doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a direct response to the shock Huawei and SMIC unleashed in 2023. Despite severe US sanctions, these companies managed to design and manufacture an advanced 7-nanometer chip that powered the Mate 60 smartphone. This achievement demonstrated that China was finding ways to circumvent the restrictions, possibly through indirect collaborations or intermediary companies.

Press reports had suggested that several Taiwanese companies were helping Huawei build a network of chip plants in southern China. Taipei's new measure seeks to root out this type of cooperation, eliminating any ambiguity and forcing Taiwanese companies to completely break away from Beijing's tech giants.

This move by Taiwan, the beating heart of the global semiconductor industry, is more than just trade regulation. It's the formalization of a technological "iron curtain" that divides the world. It forces companies across the ecosystem to unequivocally choose sides, eliminating neutrality as a viable option.

Paradoxically, while the measure seeks to curb China in the short term, in the long term it could have the opposite effect. It reinforces Beijing's determination to achieve technological "self-sufficiency" (自主可控) at any cost. Finding itself completely isolated from Taiwanese technology, China is forced to redouble its investments and efforts to build a fully domestic semiconductor supply chain. Taiwan's decision, rather than being the final straw, could become the catalyst that drives more determined, focused, and eventually disruptive Chinese innovation. The bifurcation of the technological world is now a working reality.