Semiconductor manufacturers in Taiwan can remotely disable their chip-making machines in the event of a Chinese invasion.

The flip side of this is that hackers can brick the same machines.....

i assume by disable they probably mean, something along the lines of irreversibly contaminating the whole of the assembly line.

I'd be curious to know how specifically they're going about this.

Just disable?

I've heard for years now that they have those chip fabs rigged to explode, as to not let them fall into China's hands.

"Disable" like we disabled Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges?

Media: So... you know those high-tech chipmaking machines? The ones banned for sale to China. The ones needed to make the processors for phones, cars, TVs, and AI servers. What happens if China invades Taiwan? Doesn't Taiwan have a lot of those machines?

Manufacturer: not a problem.

Media: Phew. Glad that's settled..... Say, how come?

Manufacturer: (slaps the roof of the $250M machine). We can lock this baby remotely. In fact, here's the remote (pulls out a keyfob).

Media: OK, cool, cool.

Techies of the world: WHAT THE ACTUAL FU..... !!!

I mean, I’d say that too even if untrue, if I were in their position.

This is a good thing, but it's hardly unique. Any advanced manufacturing facility will have remote access to their equipment in case an operator needs reconfigure it, transfer data, or in this case if they're invaded by Lesser Taiwan.

The question is if their remote disable will be triggered before the US blows the factory up anyway.

Neo-scorched earth policy.

Ha ha being British I read "chip-making machines" totally differently and thought "Bit harsh"

Why the hell would they advertise this is beyond me...

Message to China: don't, because you would not find nothing here anyway.

Message to everybody else: y'all better help China with their decision, or else!!

The article is available only for registered user; does someone has the source please?

yes, if by remotely disable you mean getting destroyed by US missiles the moment chinese troops lay a foot in Taiwan.