"Notwithstanding Taiwan’s close alignment with the United States and its allies and China’s lagging technological position in microelectronics, the degree of global dependence on semiconductor production facilities in Taiwan for leading edge chips is a major strategic vulnerability. Geopolitical risks are often, and rightly, mentioned in this context. However, natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, or pandemics, all of which have occurred in the recent past, could shut down Taiwan’s semiconductor production for a protracted period," the CSIS report says.