Taiwan Says U.S.-Led 'Chip 4' Tackled Supply Chain Resilience

The United States has convened the first meeting of a working group of East Asian countries to discuss how to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain after a two-year global chip crunch, a Taiwanese official said, Sarah Wu reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The group's member countries are home to the world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and SK Hynix, and key Japanese suppliers of semiconductor materials and equipment.

The semiconductor shortage, which forced some carmakers to halt production, thrust chip powerhouse Taiwan into the spotlight and has made supply chain management a bigger priority for governments around the world.

"We exchanged views at a first preliminary meeting, and hope everyone can discuss how to collaborate in the future on supply chain problems like the ones we recently encountered," Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua Wang told reporters in Taipei.

The preliminary meeting of the working group - which has been dubbed “Chip 4” - also involved representatives from South Korea and Japan.

The group's member countries are home to the world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and SK Hynix, and key Japanese suppliers of semiconductor materials and equipment.

President Tsai Ing-wen last month told visiting U.S. lawmakers that Taiwan is committed to ensuring its partners have reliable supplies of semiconductors, or "democracy chips," and urged allies to boost collaboration amid intensified threats from China.

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