Chip giant Taiwan’s energy security on the line with LNG referendum

“SACRED MOUNTAIN”

TSMC, known widely in Taiwan as a “sacred mountain protecting the nation”, is wary of being drawn into the island’s polarised politics and has stayed out of the referendum debate.

But one chip executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to the media, said the industry has long worried about Taiwan’s limitations on land, water and electricity.

“But of all those, it’s electricity that is the top concern, especially a stable power supply,” he said.

The Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association and TSMC both declined to comment on the referendum.

The referendum petition was initiated by an environmental activist and garnered more than 700,000 signatures on the back of an endorsement from the main opposition party, the Kuomintang.

The party, eyeing local elections next year when it hopes to stage a political comeback, is pushing instead for more nuclear power as the green solution to Taiwan’s energy woes, and supports a separate referendum on restarting a mothballed nuclear power plant opposed by the government.

The Kuomintang has framed the four upcoming referendums as a vote of no confidence in the ruling party.

President Tsai Ing-wen signalled the vote’s importance to her government during a visit last month to the Datan Algal Reef, which stretches along the northwest coastline next to Taoyuan city.

“Taiwan has world-class, high-end manufacturing industries,” Tsai told reporters. “For the country’s safety and for economic development, we need to provide reliable and stable electricity.”

Chou Kuei-tien, a National Taiwan University professor, added that Taiwan urgently needs to speed up its move to cleaner energy sources.

“Taiwan already lags behind other countries in the energy transition,” he said.

None of this cuts much ice with activist Pan Chong-cheng, who led the campaign for the vote to move the terminal and protect the more than 7,000-year-old reef.

“This is the world’s shared property, this is our next generation’s property,” said Pan, a retired teacher and the convener of the Rescue Datan’s Algal Reefs Alliance.

“With so many people wanting to preserve it, if we can’t preserve it then this country would only seem to have economic development and money before its eyes.”

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