Wafer-thin
China, Taiwan, the US, Britain, Italy, and the DRC.
The five things you need to know today:
CHINA. TAIWAN. Taipei begins the new year down on its chips.
UNITED STATES. Precipitous policy could be a recessionary black swan.
BRITAIN. Ties with Washington may be forced to go the distance.
ITALY. Meloni continues to battle the courts on migration.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. The war in Goma spreads to Kinshasa.
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CHINA. TAIWAN. Enter the snake
Taipei begins the new year down on its chips.
Taipei said its semiconductor sector was a "win-win" for the US, after Donald Trump said he might place a "100% tax" on its chipmakers. Taiwanese AI researchers suggested DeepSeek's reported low costs were "Beijing propaganda".
INTELLIGENCE. Taiwan’s share market went on holiday last week for the Lunar New Year, which is just as well as its largest firms, such as TSMC, could be severely impacted by any fall in demand for the cutting-edge chips that China-based DeepSeek has potentially made unnecessary for advanced AI processes. Taiwan’s “silicon shield”, a concept that its defence is integral to US interests due to its supply chains centrality, could likewise be severely impacted.
FOR BUSINESS. The Year of the Snake began inauspiciously for Taiwan. Even without Trump’s remarks (or China’s claim Marco Rubio said he didn’t recognise Taiwanese independence), its parallel “porcupine” defence concept is also in danger, due to parliament’s freeze on extra military spending. This, in turn, could increase Trump’s demands Taipei “pay more” for its own defence. A fiscal impasse with the opposition has dominated local politics for months.
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UNITED STATES. Too fast, too furious
Precipitous policy could be a recessionary black swan.
A federal court blocked a proposed stay on government grants and loans Tuesday, minutes before it was due to take effect. A lawsuit brought by the National Council of Nonprofits and service deliverers was scheduled for Monday.
INTELLIGENCE. Shrinking the government and ending DEI are among Trump’s more popular policies. And certainly, reducing