The writer is founder of Sifted, an FT-backed media site for European start-ups
本文作者是英国《金融时报》旗下报道欧洲初创企业的媒体网站Sifted的创始人
The table stakes to play in the global semiconductor market keep spiralling upwards. This month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, one of the world’s leading chipmakers, said it would hike capital expenditure to as much as $44bn this year, almost three times more than 2019. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics had previously signalled a hefty increase in semiconductor spending; the US manufacturer Intel this week announced it would invest more than $20bn in building two chip factories in Ohio.
在全球半导体市场角逐的玩家摆出的筹码越垒越高。本月，全球领先的芯片制造商之一台积电(TSMC)表示，今年将把资本支出提高至440亿美元，几乎是2019年的3倍。韩国三星电子(Samsung Electronics)此前表示将大幅增加其半导体支出；美国制造商英特尔(Intel)本周宣布将投资逾200亿美元，在俄亥俄州建设两座芯片工厂。
One industry leader has likened the competition to gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome. “If you win, all that you have accomplished is the right to go to the Colosseum one more time,” Cristiano Amon, chief executive of the US chip designer Qualcomm, told the FT.
一位行业领袖将这种竞争比作古罗马时期的角斗。美国芯片设计公司高通(Qualcomm)首席执行官克里斯蒂亚诺•阿蒙(Cristiano Amon)对英国《金融时报》表示：“如果你赢了，你的全部所得也只是再一次进入古罗马斗兽场的权利。”
But the semiconductor battles are not just being fought between gladiatorial companies desperate to supply booming demand for microchips but by strategically-minded governments intent on asserting technological superiority, too. Semiconductors, which run everything from smartphones to medical devices to F-35 fighter jets, have become the battleground for ferocious geopolitical rivalry as the US attempts to strengthen its technological hegemony and slow China’s rise.
但半导体之战不仅发生在拼命满足微芯片需求的企业“角斗士”之间，也发生在出于战略考虑决意维护科技优势地位的政府之间。半导体已成为激烈的地缘政治竞争的战场，因为美国试图加强其科技霸主地位，并拖延中国的崛起。从智能手机、医疗设备到F-35战斗机都需要半导体。