You are going to be hearing more about advanced packaging
The world’s newspaper about China | September 15, 2023
You need to know about semiconductors | ||
Dear reader,
Microchips, the semiconductors made of silicon, now affect everything. You’re reading this on a device powered by semiconductors. They’re a vital part of the global financial system, they’re in the drones and artificial intelligence that will define modern warfare, and they are also key to understanding the tensions between the U.S. and China, and both countries’ relations with Taiwan. So we will be devoting more of our energy and resources to covering the business, technology, and geopolitics of semiconductors, and explaining the key developments to you. Today’s top story is about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which you can arguably call the world’s most important commercial enterprise, and which plays an extraordinary role in all our lives and in the complexities of China’s rise and relations with the U.S., Taiwan itself, and the rest of the world. Another senior Chinese official has disappeared: Defence Minister Lǐ Shàngfú 李尚福 has been missing from public view for more than two weeks, and today a variety of credible media sources are reporting that he has been placed under investigation by Communist Party authorities. He joins former Foreign Minister Qín Gāng 秦刚 who was removed from his post in July, and a host of other Party and military leaders who have been purged in recent months. Some observers are speculating that Li has been implicated in some kind of military procurement corruption scandal. We’ll likely never know the real reason why he and his many colleagues have become unpersons in the party-state. But it does give us an idea of the problems that would immediately beset the Chinese government if Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 died unexpectedly. (For more on the problem of leadership succession that Xi has created for China, listen to this 2018 Sinica Podcast with Jude Blanchette, a scholar of elite Chinese politics and China Practice Lead at Crumpton Group, a geo-political risk advisory firm.) For all the other news you need to know China this week, see our Daily Dispatches: September 11: A weekend in India without Xi…and Chinese memories of 9/11 September 12: China waves a big stick…and spy vs. spy September 13: A barrel of vinegar and a thimble of honey for Taiwan…and EU probe into Chinese EVs September 14: Clean tech, dirty energy…and why is Hong Kong pushing crypto? Our Phrase of the Week is: Pocket crime (口袋罪 kǒudài zuì), a Chinese legal term first coined in 1979 that describes a crime category which is vague, broad, and can be open to interpretation and abuse by law enforcement authorities.
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