Re: What was that ?
A) I'm not sure TSMC leading edge fabs are not already mined in some manner. I know upper mgmt folks in another Taiwan foundry using older processes and when asked they say that their fabs aren't mined, but point out China already builds their level of technology so doing so is unnecessary.
B) I began selling fab equipment to China as soon as the US Govt allowed it in the mid 80's. China's issue at that time was not their researchers but their infrastructure and access to Western high tech materials. Even then they had VERY smart people, I once saw one of their e-beam litho systems that ran off an original IBM PC with interface electronics at the 7400 chip series or below. It worked but was VERY slow. Smart people designed it. Now they have western educated engineers and scientists. In the 80's their western educated scientists attended college in the 30's.
C) Even if not mined, coordinated missile strikes from Korea, Japan and US fleet(s) would level them. Refer to 1st Baghdad raid of the Gulf War, but going after just 3 or 4 factories.
D) Yes, it is necessary to plan for this. We cannot allow PRC to control all the highest tech fabs in the world...