HSINCHU, Taiwan - Silicon Valley may be the heart of global tech, but its pulse depends on a special kind of lifeblood — high-end microchips — many of which flow out of a science park on Taiwan's west coast.

The park has been home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, since the company's inception nearly four decades ago. It is from this base that TSMC made itself indispensable to modern life; its chips are in everything from cell phones to cars. By some estimates, it produces over 90% of the world's most advanced chips.

But the calculus has been shifting for Taiwan's biggest and most profitable company, as the U.S.-China rivalry has intensified and chips have come to be seen as strategic to U.S. national security because of their applications in military te

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