Taiwan named semiconductor tech titan Morris Chang as its special envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month in San Francisco as the city hosts its largest gathering of world leaders in 80 years.
The upcoming visit will mark the sixth time the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. founder has represented Taiwan at the international gathering, according to statements from the Taiwanese Presidential Office cited in various media reports.
And it comes when the presidents of China and the U.S. are expected to cross paths for the first time in a year.
The 92-year-old “Chip King” helms a $500 billion juggernaut in TSMC, which—as the biggest manufacturer of microprocessors in the world—equips iPhones, cars and fighter jets with advanced computing power.
On the artificial intelligence front, TSMC also propelled Nvidia to become a global leader in designing AI chips.
That puts Chang’s company at the center of a technological cold war between China and the U.S., as the former spends hundreds of billions of dollars to build a competing market and the latter woos TSMC to manufacture its prized chips on American shores.
The APEC summit takes place from Nov. 11 to 17 in and around San Francisco’s Moscone Center, with sprawling security zones to accommodate leaders from 21 countries and as many as 30,000 visitors.