Why the Netherlands and Taiwan Are the Hinges of the Contemporary World
Taiwan and the New Global Geopolitics
For centuries, the fate of nations was decided on the ground. Few territories were as decisive as the plain we now know as Poland. Its location—in the center of Europe, between Germany and Russia, between the Baltic and the Black Sea—made it a geopolitical hinge, an open corridor where empires, ideologies, and armies clashed.
Unlike other European regions protected by mountains or seas, Poland is a vast plain without natural barriers. The Mongols advanced through here in the 13th century, as did Swedish and Ottoman troops in the 17th, Napoleon on his way to Moscow, and later, German and Soviet armies. For some, it was a conquest corridor; for others, a defensive shield.
In the 18th century, after a series of internal weaknesses, Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. It disappeared from the map for over a century but remained key: whoever controlled that strip gained access to the heart of Europe and the Slavic steppes.
In 1939, Germany and the USSR signed a pact to divide Poland. The Nazi invasion from the west and Soviet invasion from the east marked the beginning of World War II. During the conflict, Poland was the epicenter of the Holocaust, the site of mass exterminations and forced displacements. At the end of the war, Poland was shifted westward, lost territories to the USSR, and gained others from eastern Germany. In the Cold War, it again became a friction zone between the Soviet bloc and NATO.
Today, as a member of the EU and NATO, Poland is the backbone of Western support for Ukraine, a critical frontier with Russia, and a logistics platform for defense. Its geography keeps it at the center of history, but now in an active role.
Poland’s history shows how geography defined Europe's fate. It was a stage for disputing empires, collapsing systems, and continental reconfigurations. Today, its strategic location keeps its role relevant on Europe’s 21st-century geopolitical board.
Semiconductors: The Neural Center of Global Power
In the 21st century, the axis of power is no longer found in transit territories but in a tiny, ubiquitous component: the semiconductor. These chips are the core of virtually all modern technology. Without them, there are no computers, phones, cars, satellites, communications, or defense. Global dependence is so profound that their absence can paralyze entire economies. From medicine to artificial intelligence, everything depends on these blocks of silicon, whose complexity makes them strategic assets.
Though semiconductors have existed since the mid-20th century, their centrality was consolidated in the last two decades. With the expansion of the internet, big data, mobile networks, automation, AI, and cloud computing, chips shifted from being a technical component to an invisible infrastructure.
The development of technologies such as 5G, autonomous vehicles, robotics, quantum computing, and smart weapons relies on increasingly small, powerful, and efficient chips. In this context, semiconductors have become as strategic a resource as oil in the last century.
ASML and the Technological Power of the Netherlands
In this new order, the Netherlands occupies a key role thanks to a single company: ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography). From its headquarters in Veldhoven, it produces the only extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines in the world, essential for manufacturing the most advanced chips.
These machines contain more than 100,000 components, thousands of sensors, mirrors polished at the atomic scale, and a light source that reproduces the heat of the sun in a single focal point. Each unit costs more than 150 million euros. There is no substitute: anyone wanting to manufacture cutting-edge chips needs ASML.
This technological monopoly has made the Netherlands an unexpected geopolitical player. In 2019, the United States pressured to halt the export of these machines to China, fearing the loss of technological and military advantage. In 2023, the Dutch government further restricted these exports, even of less advanced technologies, in coordination with the US and Japan.
Thus, a small, traditionally neutral country found itself at the center of a global dispute for control of silicon. ASML has transformed into a key strategic player of the 21st century, with the Netherlands as its custodian.
Taiwan’s Critical Position in the Global Semiconductor Economy
If the Netherlands controls the technology, Taiwan leads production. More than 60% of global semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced—those of 5 nanometers or less—are manufactured there. The majority belong to a single company: TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company).
Founded in 1987, TSMC pioneered an innovative model: manufacturing chips designed by third parties. This approach allowed companies like Apple, Nvidia, and AMD to outsource the most expensive part of the process. Today, TSMC produces the processors that underpin much of the world’s digital infrastructure.
But its leadership is rooted on an island with a history of conflict. Taiwan was part of the Qing Empire, a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945, and a refuge for the Chinese Nationalist government after the civil war. Since 1949, it has functioned as a de facto sovereign state, with democracy and a market economy. However, most countries—including the US and the EU—do not officially recognize it due to the “One China” policy.
This policy, promoted by Beijing, asserts that there is only one legitimate government for all of China, including Taiwan. As a diplomatic condition, it requires countries to sever official ties with the island. China sees Taiwan as a rebellious province and does not rule out “reunification” by force.
Taiwan defends its autonomy, while the US maintains an ambiguous stance: it does not formally recognize Taiwan, but supports it militarily and economically. The island, located across from the West’s main geopolitical rival, has become a point of global tension. A conflict there would interrupt the global semiconductor supply chain, affecting key industries worldwide.
The New Hinge of the World in the 21st Century
Taiwan occupies a central position in the global balance. Its geography, political history, and technological specialization make it a focal point of tensions where strategic and industrial interests converge. This is not an exclusively territorial dispute. The architecture of global power now depends on critical technologies produced by two private companies—TSMC and ASML—without majority stakeholders, subject to market decisions but operating within a highly sensitive geopolitical board.
The hinge of the world is no longer only geographic: it is technological, economic, and structural. It plays out in factories, logistics routes, trade agreements, and architectures built on semiconductors. Just as Poland was for centuries the point where empires clashed for domination of Europe, today the Netherlands and Taiwan concentrate global tension in their productive infrastructure, between powers contending for control of the global system. There, more than at traditional borders, the present and future of the contemporary world are defined.