In a bombshell revelation from a new investigative report by The New York Times, Apple CEO Tim Cook was among a select group of Silicon Valley leaders — including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon — who received a classified briefing from CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in 2023. The U.S. intelligence officials warned that China’s aggressive military buildup and escalating spending could position Beijing to take action against Taiwan as early as 2027, potentially disrupting the global supply of advanced semiconductors produced by TSMC on the island. This stark assessment, aimed at urging tech giants to diversify away from Taiwan dependence, left a lasting impression on Cook, who later confided to officials that he now “slept with one eye open.” As geopolitical tensions continue to simmer and 2027 draws nearer, the briefing underscores the precarious intersection of national security, chip manufacturing, and the future of companies like Apple that rely heavily on Taiwanese innovation.
Tripp Mickle for The New York Times:
Federal officials have for years tried to wean Silicon Valley from its dependence on Taiwan, an island democracy roughly the size of Maryland that makes 90 percent of the world’s high-end computer chips.
In secret briefings held in Washington and Silicon Valley, national security officials warned executives from companies like Apple, Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm that China was making plans to retake Taiwan, which Beijing has long considered a breakaway territory. A Chinese blockade of Taiwan, the officials said, could choke the supply of computer chips made on the island and bring the U.S. tech industry to its knees…
Now, there is increasing concern that inaction by some of Silicon Valley’s most important companies risks destabilizing the global economy. Those worries, drawn into focus by recent live-fire drills conducted by the Chinese military in waters surrounding Taiwan, have prompted dire warnings from White House officials.
“The single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of single failure, is that 97 percent of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, slightly overstating industry estimates. “If that island were blockaded, that capacity were destroyed, it would be an economic apocalypse.”
A confidential report commissioned in 2022 by the Semiconductor Industry Association for its members, which include the largest U.S. chip companies, said cutting the supply of chips from Taiwan would lead to the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. U.S. economic output would plunge 11 percent, twice as much as the 2008 recession. The collapse would be even more severe for China, which would experience a 16 percent decline…
The Trump administration has been cleareyed about the risk. While some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs have appeared to be driven by impulse or retribution, he has persistently used the threat of tariffs on semiconductors to bully tech companies to buy more of their chips from U.S. factories.
That arm-twisting recently led Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, to commit to buying chips from new plants in Arizona being built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, a Taiwanese company that is the world’s dominant chip manufacturer…
In July 2023, three prominent chief executives, Tim Cook of Apple, Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices, entered a secure briefing room in Silicon Valley. Cristiano Amon, the chief executive of Qualcomm, joined by video. They listened as Mr. Burns and Ms. Haines said China’s military spending could mean a move on Taiwan in 2027.
Afterward, Mr. Cook told officials that he slept “with one eye open.”
But the companies still didn’t place significant new orders for U.S. chips, six people close to the industry said.
MacDailyNews Take: Despite the warnings, things didn’t really start moving until a bit later:
• TSMC breaks ground on third Arizona chip fab marking 100th day of Trump admin – April 30, 2025
• Major Apple supplier TSMC’s American expansion plans advance; CEO cites ‘warm’ talks with President Trump – June 3, 2025
• Apple supplier Texas Instruments to make historic investment of more than $60 billion across seven American semiconductor fabs – June 18, 2025
• Apple Silicon supplier TSMC to speed up construction of American chip plants by ‘several quarters’ – July 17, 2025
• Apple increases American commitment to $600 billion, announces ambitious program – August 6, 2025
• President Trump, Tim Cook announce Apple’s $100 billion investment in American manufacturing – August 6, 2025
• Tim Cook: Apple’s manufacturing expansion across America will create a ‘domino effect’ – September 16, 2025
• Major Apple supplier TSMC boosts U.S. footprint with Arizona land purchase, driving total $165 billion investment – January 16, 2026
Tons more in the full article here.
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