The United States’ ability to lead in artificial intelligence (AI) depends on Taiwan’s supply chain ecosystem, and a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would threaten the future of the American AI industry, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. As Washington and Beijing compete for global AI dominance, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald J. Trump are scheduled to meet again in Washington in September when Xi arrives for a reciprocal state visit; when they met in Beijing in May, China placed the relationship with Taiwan front and center, with Xi warning of a conflict over any mishandling of “the Taiwan question,” describing it as “the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.” AI will likely be at the top of the agenda when Trump and Xi meet next week, and ahead of Xi’s scheduled visit the United States and China are expected to hold their first official bilateral dialogue on AI as a follow-up to an agreement in May over the importance of safety measures. The article says the United States and China’s race over AI is changing the importance of Taiwan less for Beijing than for Washington, that Beijing’s interest in unification exists independent of any rational economic benefit, and that Chinese regulators are weighing tighter controls over homegrown AI technologies, including a proposal to prevent local companies such as Huawei, Alibaba, and ByteDance from using overseas foundries—including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—to produce their advanced semiconductor chips.