My understanding is that some of the benefits China would get from invading Taiwan is the control of Taiwan's world-leading semiconductor industry. So making it public knowledge that any invading force (i.e. China) would not be able to take over their production capabilities is a small deterrent.
That's what some analysts say but I really don't think China cares. They want the land (*it's strategically important for naval operations) and a unified China.
This is true, China doesn't care. I'm actually confused about the narrative around China wanting to take TSMC. Even the most cursory glace at the situation should make it obvious this isn't one of China's goals. This is because these EUV machines don't work on magic. They work on knowledge and spare parts. Even in the unlikely scenario that China somehow invades and these machines aren't destroyed by either China or the retreating Taiwanese, they aren't going to be able to operate them and more importantly get spare parts to keep them running. They'd at best be used to disassemble and review.
All of this ignores the fact that China is already at 5nm using their own equipment anyway. For the extra 2nm of difference between TSMC's 3nm to SMIC's 5nm isn't large enough to rationalize anything close to what they're talking about. It'd be cheaper to just keep subsidizing the Chinese industry rather than invading.
All of this is to say, that China may or may not invade, but TSMC isn't on the list of reasons. If anything, it's on the opposite end. China has a LOT of motivation to bomb TSMC to prevent the west from getting chips as if TSMC is gone, then suddenly Chinese 5nm are pretty much the most advanced chips in the world (besides Samsung). Thus, the real conclusion is we need to invest in Samsung, which surprisingly isn't happening for whatever reason is beyond me.
Keep in mind that the "nm" in the different company's lithography process names are basically just marketing at this point, and don't reflect anything meaningful about the actual size of transistors. As far as I know, we don't really know much about China's latest "5nm" process and how it actually compares to others.
They want power and influence, I don't think they care too much (or at all) about their citizens be it divided or united. Unless those citizens add to power or influence, of course
Just like how I would like to advertise my new course on PUA and dating. Shameless plug I know, but I do believe the majority of humanity can get some real value out of this. I used to be an incel but through hard work, I finally figured out the truth via the red pill community and now run a Taiwanian haram of 12 Asian women (DM me if you're asian and want to join, or want the link to the course)
Oh yeah to answer your question. It's for the security and maintainability of the chinese government, pretty clever if you ask me. Now if I could remote control my wife(s)