I live in Taiwan. The NTD is massively undervalued against the dollar. The US isn't really able to reshore the chip industry. The most complex chips are made exclusively in Taiwan, making Taiwan central to US needs and thus unlikely to be punished for currency manipulation. Price inflation in Taiwan has been mild compared to western countries. Corruption exists, but on nowhere near the same level as the west. The Taiwanese government doesn't need to print money like western countries and thus inflation is rather mild. It's only if you buy imported goods that you begin to feel the pinch.
It’s wild to see the gap between the TSMC salaries and the median income. It really shows how a 'booming' GDP doesn't always reflect the reality for the average citizen on the ground.
6:10 This graph actually shows that the USD has appreciated from 27 TWD to 32 TWD over the given timeframe. Hence the TWD is falling in value, which seems to contradict the narrative of "massive appreciation pressure".
lol before I clicked on this video I thought people from the Netherlands came to Taiwan and gave them an unfamiliar disease nicknamed the “Dutch disease” 😂😂
This is a little wrong. Lived in Taiwan, and I still have family in Taichung city. Taiwan companies moved production to China and now south east Asia. The managers take profits back to taiwan and buy homes driving up home prices. Health care is good and cheap. So if you are older and have a house purchase before 2004 you are better off than Americans due to the low taxes and healthcare system. If you are younger you’re in trouble, home prices are out of control compared to salaries. You can live comfortably on $1500 US dollars if you have a home. If you are young and want to buy a home. Forget it unless you have parents who can help you. I know 6 younger 33 and younger, only one has a home, and he works in technology. 2 live at home and 3 rend a studio apartment.
The military does NOT use the latest chips. In fact they are usually 2 - 3 generations behind. What the military needs is ruggedness, so the chips they get are packaged, coated etc. so they can withstand g - forces, dirt, etc.
0:10 Taiwanese companies you didn't know that are Taiwanese: Acer, Asus, BenQ, Cha Time, DingTF, D-Link, Evergreen Marine/Corp, FoxConn, Garmin, Giant bikes, Gong Cha, HTC, Merida bikes... to name a few
Fun fact: A slang term in Taiwan for TSMC is 護國神山. That directly translates to "protect country god mountain", or a God-like mountain that protects the land from the Chinese communist party.
The currency in Taiwan hasn't appriciated for decades precisely because the currency is being controlled by the Taiwan Central Bank. As amazing as the semi-conductor industry is in Taiwan, the richest people in Taiwan are actually real estate developers (land owners), not tech moguls. When i went to school in the US in the 90's, the exchange rate was close to 27 NTD to 1 USD. The current exchange rate is 31 NTD to 1 USD, so it has actually gotten weaker, not stronger.
Calling semiconductors a “Dutch Disease” driver is conceptually sloppy. One is about passive resource windfalls distorting an economy; the other is about an innovation-driven, capital-intensive industry that typically strengthens economic complexity rather than undermines it.
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I was waiting for bubble tea... ☠️