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Taiwan’s outsize importance in manufacturing semiconductor chips

Taiwan’s Outsize Importance in Manufacturing Semiconductor Chips | GZERO World

A big reason the Chinese leader is pushing harder than ever to annex Taiwan is actually quite small. The self-governing island has an outsize manufacturing capacity for semiconductors – the little chips that bind the electrical circuits we use in our daily lives. Cell phones, laptops, modern cars, and even airplanes all rely on these tiny computer wafers. Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC alone makes more than half of the chips outsourced by all foreign companies, which means your iPhone likely runs on Taiwanese-made semiconductors. What would happen to the world's semiconductor chips if China were to take control of Taiwan?

Watch the episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: What could spark a US-China war?

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As the war intensifies, chances of a clean exit from Iran are slipping further out of reach for President Trump. Brookings Institution's Thomas Wright joins Ian Bremmer to unpack the crisis and outline possible endgame scenarios.

Participants hold placards during a protest to condemn the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and commemorate students killed in a strike on a girls' primary school in Minab in southern Iran on February 28, in front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, March 12, 2026.
REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon

175: The number of people killed at an Iranian girls’ school in a strike on Feb. 28. Initial intelligence reports suggest that the US was to blame for the strike, per the New York Times, after the military used a now-defunct set of coordinates to deploy the hit.