Biden's efforts to starve China of chips are rewriting the rules of global trade–and even U.S. allies are balking at the upheaval

TSMC founder Morris Chang toasts Apple CEO Tim Cook at an Arizona press conference with a U.S. flag behind them (Credit: Caitlin O'Hara—Bloomberg/Getty Images)

It was supposed to be a celebratory occasion. U.S. President Joe Biden, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Morris Chang, the 91-year-old founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, had gathered in Phoenix, Ariz., in early December to mark the first delivery of advanced chip making equipment to the Taiwanese company’s first Arizona factory. At the event, TSMC announced it would build a second factory in Arizona, bringing its investment in the state to $40 billion, the most ever by a foreign company. When the second factory comes online in 2026, it will pump out TSMC’s most advanced chips, a 3-nanometer semiconductor that will power Apple and AMD devices.

But at the event, Chang issued a warning that punctured the otherwise jovial atmosphere: “Globalization is almost dead and free trade is almost dead,” he said. “A lot of people still wish they would come back, but I don’t think they will be back.”