TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China seeks to leverage AI to annex Taiwan and replace the US as the dominant global power, Mike Gallagher, head of defense at Palantir Technologies, warned in a Wall Street Journal article Thursday.
Gallagher said that if US President Donald Trump is right about the significance of leading in AI, then “the pot odds on winning Taiwan are becoming too good for Mr. Xi to pass up.”
Taiwan “has become the single point of failure in the single most important technology the Communist Party wants to dominate,” he said.
“Washington, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street need to recognize this shift in Beijing’s decision-making as the cost of not taking Taiwan may soon exceed the cost of taking it,” he added.
Gallagher wrote that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered the military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China’s military has reorganized its forces, bolstered its missile and amphibious capabilities, and increased drills in the Taiwan Strait to unprecedented levels, he said.
China is deploying more invasion-ready forces than ever, including ships, long-range precision weapons, and aircraft, Gallagher said. Meanwhile, the US is working to address munitions shortages and rebuild its Navy.
“Taiwan’s defense sits at the heart of not only US national-security strategy, but also America’s economic and AI strategies,” Gallagher said, noting that the US AI industry depends heavily on Taiwan’s semiconductors. “We must therefore intensify our efforts to arm Taiwan to the teeth,” he added.
Gallagher noted that Taiwan has already increased its defense budget and strengthened drone development. “America should support this buildup by clearing the arms sale backlog for Taiwan and streamlining Foreign Military Sales processes,” he said.
Gallagher said the US should make clear that the economic consequences of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan “will be swift and severe.”
“The US should pre-position financial sanctions, coordinate with allies on a unified response package, and ensure Beijing understands that an attack on Taiwan triggers consequences that dwarf any semiconductor seizure,” he added.
