TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou told member states at the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in New Zealand that the main reasons for global chip shortages include underestimation of demand, occurrence of natural disasters, logistics congestion and surge in digital demand, etc. The best solution of chip shortage is free trade and free market.

Zhang Zhongmou focused on the issue of the global semiconductor industry at the summit.

According to the Business Times, Zhang Zhongmou believes that although the shortage of any key parts is a serious problem, free trade and free competition in a free market are still the best solutions.

Zhang Zhongmou also emphasized that the recent significant increase in wafer manufacturing capacity due to chip shortages just shows that the free market is the best solution to the problem of shortages or surpluses.

Zhang Zhongmou also mentioned that APEC members have flourished through free trade in the past, but compared with the past, the recent free trade seems to have some more conditions. It’s believed that most of the conditions have undesirable consequences, and that it is only limited by “critical national security”. The free trade of “demand” is the broad road to realize the resilience and prosperity of the member’s supply chain.