Taiwan and Israel have deep ties that go beyond financial support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime, according to a September 2025 briefing titled “Taiwanese Companies’ Complicity in Israel’s Ongoing Genocide.”

Several groups helped prepare the report: Humanity Research Consultancy, a British firm, Taiwan International Workers Association, an advocacy group for migrants’ rights, and Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine (TWAFP), a coalition consisting of seven groups aiming to show “Taiwan’s role in Israel’s implementation of genocide and apartheid” while “advocating for Palestinian freedom.”

As indicated in the report, Taiwanese companies such as Transcom, Inc., Gloria Material Technology Corp., HIWIN Technologies, ADLINK Technology Inc. and S-Tech Corp. have been closely involved in Israel’s military systems, which include missiles, radar, communication, aerospace satellites, drones, tanks and armoured vehicles.

Taiwanese Suppliers of Israeli Military Systems

The briefing details:

•         Ye Fong Aluminium, specialising in advanced aluminium alloys, is “a qualified supplier for Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and [state-owned] Israel Aerospace Industries.”

•         Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system uses Gloria Material’s specialised steel for interceptor missiles and S-Tech’s Ti-Ni alloys for missile fin systems, ensuring precision and stability during interception.

•         ADLINK specialises in embedded computing and industrial PCs. Its products are “well-suited for modern battlefield applications”, and they have been integrated into Israeli tanks and US missile systems, to “enhance targeting accuracy and operational performance.”

•         HIWIN Technology Corp. and HIWIN Mikrosystem both specialise in motion control and linear motion products such as ball screws and linear guideways, which are widely utilised in military systems. Since 2009, they have acquired Israeli Mega-Fabs Motion Systems Ltd (also known as Mega-F), a leading manufacturer of high-precision motion control technology for military applications.

The briefing shows how Taiwan’s expertise in semiconductors and encrypted chips has facilitated the US-Israeli Genocide:

•         Enova Technology supplies encrypted chips as well as real-time encryption technology to US missiles and drones. These are “the only encrypted chips in the world certified to meet the U.S. FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards] 140-2 Level 3 standard.” This certification enables Enova’s products to “penetrate the supply chains of Israel, as well as the top ten U.S. defence contractors.”

•         Transcom designs and supplies microwave semiconductor components and subsystems that comprise part of Iron Dome. Its clients consist of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, ELTA Systems, Rafael, Elbit Systems, Elisra Group, Microkim, IMC Microwave Industries, Risco Group and Eyal.

•         Transcom crafted “a high-efficiency continuous wave solid-state power amplifier designed for radar systems” as well as “a high-power solid-state amplifier module for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on low Earth orbit (LEO) military and aerospace satellites.”

International finance capital has funded the Taiwanese enterprises involved in the Gaza Genocide:

•         Norges Bank Investment Management, which runs the Government Pension Fund Global of Norway, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, is a shareholder in Transcom, HIWIN, Gloria Material and ADLINK.

•         The Vanguard Group, BlackRock and Dimensional Fund Advisors, L.P. have invested in HIWIN Technologies, Gloria Material and ADLINK.

•         Other investors, notably Fidelity Investments and Geode Capital Management, two Boston-based investment management firms, are stakeholders of HIWIN Technologies, owner of Mega-F.

The briefing states that “the companies identified in this report may represent only a fraction of the broader network” and further inquiries are needed “to fully map the extent of Taiwan’s entanglement in Israel’s military-industrial complex.”

Suggestions from the briefing

The report provided recommendations, primarily making moral appeals to imperialist powers to pressure Taiwan’s government and firms to change course. These include:

•         Following Germany’s decision to halt arms shipments to Israel.

•         The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement adding Taiwanese enterprises to its list of targeted companies.

•         Calling on UN bodies and experts to pressure “the Taiwanese government and corporations to immediately cease all support for Israel’s genocidal actions.”

•         Calls on European governments to compel Taiwanese firms to adopt “human rights and due diligence (HRDD) standards” to prevent and mitigate adverse effects on human rights.

When asked by the Taipei-based United Daily News in an interview if Taiwan should side with Palestine after China had done so, the first author of the briefing said yes. Opposing everything China had backed would simply leave Taiwan isolated. If Taiwan sought “role models,” it must look up to European leaders who had supposedly shifted their stance as overwhelming evidence of the Gaza genocide emerged.

Making clear that she was not suggesting any lessening of hostilities to China, which had threatened “aggression and territorial aggrandisement,” she claimed that Taiwan’s predicament was analogous to that of Palestine and opposing the genocide would strengthen Taiwan’s position on the world stage.

Despite the well-intended efforts of the authors, numerous contributors and informants, the writers of the briefings continue to promote the lie that Taiwan is, like Palestine, an oppressed nation that must ally with the European powers as fellow advocates for human rights.

F-35 fighters and US missiles use chips made by TSMC

The reality is that the Taiwanese semiconductor industry functions essentially as a component of US imperialism’s military industrial complex and its campaign of military aggression against China. Indeed, the US depends on Taiwan to supply its semiconductors. In February 2025, Alexander Tah-ray Yui, de facto Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the United States, declared that Taiwan’s semiconductor sector was “a reliable partner” that served to “make America great again.”

In mid-October, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation inquired on the “reasonable amount” of TSMC that should “be shifted to the US”, since US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had previously proposed that Taiwan and the US do a 50-50 split in chip manufacturing, Vice President of Taiwan Hsiao Bi-khim replied that the island could do more than that. Taiwan would invest in the United States: “not just TSMC but broader sectors of the ecosystem from their suppliers to designers.” Moreover, Taiwanese chip manufacturing companies had been “working with” American corporations such as Intel “to enhance their production capabilities.” She went on to describe it as “a win-win partnership.”

In response to this latest announcement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin stated that the US and Taiwan were at one with each other, noting, “this is not about relocating the semiconductor industry to the US, but rather extending our strength.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) expressly noted in June 2022 the full extent of Washington’s reliance on Taiwan’s semiconductors and chips, stating:

TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited] makes semiconductors used in F-35 fighters and a wide range of “military-grade” devices used by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Many U.S. defense systems use field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) which are similar to commercial versions but introduce certain specific militarily relevant features, such as higher levels of heat and radiation tolerance. The major designers of FPGAs are U.S. firms that depend on Taiwan for much of their production. The U.S. firm Xilinx, for example, invented the FPGA, but most of its semiconductor wafers are manufactured by TSMC and United Microelectronics Co [UMC].

TSMC’s fabs have produced around 92 percent of the world’s most advanced chips. According to an article published by Contrary Research on September 2, 2025, advanced and legacy node semiconductors are increasingly used in all critical weaponry, encompassing precision guided missiles, F-35 fighters, unmanned aerial vehicles and military systems that relied on sensors, radar, guidance systems and/or cameras.

Moreover, “Without access to the semiconductors from Taiwan, US military power will be directly impacted” since it would be “incapable of developing advanced AI, let alone pursuing AGI [(Artificial General Intelligence)].”

The Contrary Research article underlined how AGI would be particularly valuable in “initiating self-improving research to discover novel materials for fighter jets, formulate unbeatable wargaming strategies, command autonomous drone fleets with superhuman efficiency, and unlock revolutionary scientific breakthroughs for warfare.”

Even the portrayal of semiconductor manufacture as “Taiwanese” is problematic. While the world’s most advanced semiconductor foundry is based in Taiwan and run by a dominant sector of the Taiwanese bourgeoisie, as of December 18, 2024, TSMC’s largest stakeholder (20.49 percent) was ADR-Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd, representing US finance capital. The National Development Fund of Taiwan came a distant second with an ownership of 6.38 percent. ADRs, or “American Depositary Receipts” enable investors to purchase shares of foreign corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

TSMC’s global market share increased to 70.2 percent during the second quarter of this year. Driven by strong demand for AI, the company reported higher-than-expected third-quarter sales. Bloomberg estimated revenue for the three-month period ending in September 2025 to be $32.5 billion, based on monthly sales data provided by the corporation.

Even though Washington is the primary backer, enabler and weapon supplier for the Gaza genocide, the report on Taiwanese corporations’ complicity in the crimes made no reference to TSMC’s close ties to the US military-industrial complex and the US financial oligarchy. Had the report done so, Washington’s culpability for unleashing its two attack dogs, Israel and Taiwan, would have come to the fore. In its strikes on Gaza, Israel deploys F-35s to drop 2,000-pound bombs.

Taiwan as an oppressor nation

Taiwan’s function as a strategic ally for US imperialism is epitomized in the widespread use of the term “silicon shield”, coined by Australian journalist Craig Addison who authored a book of the same title in 2001. Since then, all factions of the Taiwanese bourgeoisie and corporate media have insisted that the concentration of global semiconductor production in Taiwan has made the island “an indispensable player” on the world stage and therefore that an alliance with US imperialism is essential because Washington will “shield” the strategically-important island from Chinese invasion.

Far from being an oppressed nation, Taiwan, though not an imperialist power, has been no stranger to aiding and abetting genocide perpetrated by far-right dictatorships backed by the US or directly by US imperialism since the 1970s, half a century before the term “the Axis of genocide” was coined.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has reinforced this tradition since it came to power in 2000. The DPP lobbied heavily in the US Congress between 2003 and 2004 to send 35,000 Taiwanese marines to ransack Iraq in support of US imperialism. As noted in an article published on the World Socialist Website:

Like Israel’s “Hasbara” propaganda, the Taiwanese bourgeoisie has depicted the island country as an eternal victim facing annihilation. This analogy is then used to justify Taiwan’s collusion with the Axis of Genocide. In contrast, [Taiwanese] independentists have portrayed Taiwan as Palestine, or an eternal victim of settler colonisation and of denial of statehood by its neighbour. This view is then used to justify war drives against China.

It is ludicrous to liken Taiwan to Palestine, a nation oppressed by imperialist powers, bourgeois governments and finance capital. It absolves the Taiwanese ruling elite of its culpability in the Gaza genocide, deflecting attention away from TSMC’s active involvement in Washington’s war efforts in the Middle East and around the world, as well as legitimising hostility to China which is by the same analogy associated with Israel.

European powers as driving forces of the Gaza genocide

The claim that Germany and the European powers set “human rights” precedents for Taiwan to follow is no less bankrupt.

Germany is the principal backer of Israel and the Gaza genocide after the United States. Earlier this year, Friedrich Merz—now Germany Chancellor, then candidate for the Christian Democratic Union party—threatened to strip dual citizens who participated in anti-Israel demonstrations of their German citizenship. Following Israel’s illegal military assault on Iran in June 2025, Chancellor Merz told ZDF, “This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us. […] I have the utmost respect for the Israeli army and the Israeli leadership for having had the courage to do this.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he delivered a fascistic rant to the imperialist powers at the headquarters of the United Nations on September 26, 2025, responded by boasting:

You know deep down that Israel is fighting your fight. Behind closed doors, many of the leaders who publicly condemn us, privately thank us… This past June, when Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities, German Chancellor Merz admitted the truth. He said, ‘Israel is doing the dirty work for all of us.’

Germany’s position is hardly an aberration. Britain is the third-largest backer of the Gaza genocide, after the United States and Germany.

On July 2, 2025, the British House of Commons voted 386–26 to proscribe Palestine Action, a civil disobedience group that staged protests against the genocide and UK arms industry, as a terrorist organisation. As of this writing, Keir Starmer’s Labour government has arrested over 2,000 peaceful protesters who defended Palestine Action and is moving to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations based on claims that they are a public nuisance and on accusations of antisemitism. Despite mounting pressure at home, the UK Ministry of Defence has refused to suspend exports of F-35 components to Israel.

It is at best naïve to expect European perpetrators and enablers of the Genocide to pressure Taiwan’s government and enterprises which firmly align themselves with their bourgeois class interests to change course.

Workers and masses of the world unite

Leon Trotsky noted in 1939 that it would be naïve to pin any hopes on “a progressive bourgeoisie” and/or “a progressive bourgeois movement” in the imperialist era of capitalism, underlining:

A political superstructure of one kind or another cannot change the reactionary economic foundation of imperialism. On the contrary, it is the foundation that subordinates the superstructure to itself.

A genuine struggle against the monstrous crimes in Gaza, fascism and war cannot be waged with wishful thinking and half-measures. The fight requires a struggle against our nationalism, our “own” bourgeoisie, all perpetrators and accomplices of the US-Israeli genocide as well as all sections of the ruling classes.

Above all, our fight against the genocide, fascism and war must be part of a broader struggle to overturn the capitalist system that breeds such unremitting and boundless brutality. The slaughter and starvation of the Palestinians, as well as Washington’s plan to create “the New Middle East” by increasingly savage means, have vindicated the revolutionary Marxist position that defeating imperialism requires the abolition of capitalism by the proletariat, guided by an internationalist programme and led by its revolutionary vanguard.

We urge workers, youth and toiling masses in Taiwan, China, the Middle East, Europe and beyond who aspire to real peace and equality among nations to contact the International Committee of the Fourth International and join the fight for proletarian internationalism—that is, real peace and equality among the toiling masses of the world.