Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te opened the COMPUTEX technology trade fair in Taipei on Tuesday, saying that maintaining the political status quo is the most responsible approach the island can take to secure global supply chains. 

As the home for the world's largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, Taiwan is a key equipment supplier for companies including Nvidia and Apple.

But its political status is a constant source of friction, given that China asserts the island should be part of its territory. For decades an uneasy stalemate has endured whereby Beijing does not give up its claims to Taiwan, or allow others to recognize the island nation diplomatically, but also does not act on its threats of trying to seize the territory.

What did President Lai say at the opening ceremony? 

Lai told assembled executives from various tech giants at the Taipei World Trade Center that his government and territory was of increasing importance to their industry.

"As the world's need for AI grows, so too does its need for a Taiwan that is stable, trustworthy, and capable of shouldering responsibility," Lai said. 

"The government will firmly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and is committed to maintaining the status quo," he said, referring to the narrow strip of ocean separating Taiwan and mainland China. 

Nvidia's Huang calls Taiwan 'epicenter of the ecosystem'

Large language models and machine learning tools — more commonly referred to with the catch-all term AI — are dependent on high-end chip and semiconductor manufacturers.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was among the other speakers on the opening day, a week after the chip company, with its stratospheric nominal value by market capitalization, announced plans to invest around $150 billion (roughly €129 billion) a year in Taiwan. 

"Taiwan is ​incredible at manufacturing, ⁠especially technology manufacturing. This is the epicenter of the ecosystem," Huang said.

Taiwan's status was a topic of considerable focus during US President Donald Trump's recent trip to China for talks with his opposite number, Xi Jinping.

During that visit, Trump said the US was pausing a fresh tranche of military assistance for Taipei — also drawing attention for complaining in interviews of how Taiwan "stole" the chip industry from the US. 

The US, like Germany and most of the world, walks a fine line on Taiwan. On the one hand, it adheres to the "one China" policy demanded by Beijing, only formally recognizing one Chinese state. On the other, it is also Taiwan's most important backer and security guarantor, as well as a major trade partner. 

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Edited by: Sean Sinico