Tag Archives: law courts and tribunals

Paul Pelosi: Court orders the release of video capturing the attack on Paul Pelosi at his San Francisco home

January 26, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

CNN
—

Video and audio recorded last year during the attack on Paul Pelosi in the San Francisco home he shares with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be released on Friday, according to the San Francisco Superior Court.

The released material will include 911 audio calls, police body camera footage and home surveillance video, as well as other investigative material, the court said in a news release.

The California court ruled Wednesday that the district attorney’s office must make the materials public, along with audio from police interviews with David DePape, the alleged attacker.

The decision came following a motion by a coalition of news organizations, including CNN, seeking the release of the material on arguments that the circumstances involving the residence of the then-speaker of the House demanded transparency.

DePape has pleaded not guilty to a litany of state and federal crimes, including assault and attempted murder. His lawyers argued against the public release of the audio and footage, writing it would “irreparably damage” his right to a fair trial.

Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday that she has not seen the video and does not know if she will.

“I don’t have anything to do with the legalities of this. I respect the system. My concern is my husband’s … my husband’s well-being and we take that day to day,” she said. “We’re really grateful to the outpouring of prayers and support for him and that is what our focus is. The justice system, we have confidence in, and whatever that is, it is.”

Paul Pelosi was violently attacked in October with a hammer at the couple’s home by a male assailant who was searching for the House speaker, according to court documents – a development that ultimately drove the then-speaker’s decision to leave House Democratic leadership.

Pelosi underwent surgery “to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands” following the incident, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. The California Democratic congresswoman told reporters Thursday that her husband continues to recover.

“It’s one day at a time. He’s made some progress but it’ll be about at least three more months, I think, until he’ll be back to normal, but the prayers are very helpful,” she said.

Court documents revealed DePape allegedly woke Paul Pelosi shortly after 2 a.m., carrying a large hammer and several white zip ties, and demanded: “Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” He then threatened to tie up Paul Pelosi and prevented him from escaping via elevator, according to the documents. DePape later allegedly told him, “I can take you out.”

Pelosi placed a 911 call during the attack after convincing the assailant to let him go to the bathroom, where his phone was charging, and he spoke cryptically to police. CNN previously reported that police body cam footage from the incident is expected to show what officers saw when Paul Pelosi opened the door and his assailant attacked him with a hammer, fracturing his skull.

A limited number of Pelosi family members met with authorities in November to listen to the call and to view the footage, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” at the time, confirming details first reported by CNN.

“I don’t even know if I will see it. It would be a very hard thing to see an assault on my husband’s life. But I don’t know,” Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

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Entertainment

Rapper Young Thug, co-defendant ara accused of in-court drug transaction

January 21, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

CNN
—

Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug and a racketeering co-defendant conducted a hand-to-hand drug transaction during a court hearing, prosecutors said in a motion filed in Atlanta.

Fulton County prosecutors say the alleged exchange was captured on courtroom surveillance video Wednesday.

The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, and Kahlieff Adams are charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and participation in criminal street gang activity, among other charges.

According to the motion seeking clarification of the record, Adams “stood up from his chair (…) and walked unattended” to Young Thug and gave him Percocet.

The motion said Young Thug tried to conceal his hand under the table. Sheriff’s deputies took the painkiller and searched Adams, who resisted. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital after “he appeared to ingest other items of contraband that he held on his person, in an effort to conceal the extent of his crimes within the courtroom.”

During the search of Adams, the deputies found Percocet, marijuana, tobacco, and other contraband, “wrapped in plastic and food seasonings to mask the odor of the marijuana,” the motion said.

Percocet is the brand name of a drug that mixes oxycodone, which is an opioid, and acetaminophen, which is the generic name for drugs such as Tylenol.

Keith Adams, one of Young Thug’s attorneys, told CNN on Friday, “The State is purposely misrepresenting and embellishing Wednesday’s events.”

He said Young Thug neither requested nor accepted the pill.

“As can be seen in the courtroom video footage, Mr. Williams IMMEDIATELY gave it to the courtroom deputy that was directly in front of him,” he wrote in a message.

Adams said an investigation cleared Young Thug of any wrongdoing and the responsible party was charged. He said the prosecutors’ allegations were “a blatant fabrication and disappointing.”

Teombre Calland, an attorney representing Kahlieff Adams, released a statement via text message to CNN affiliate WSB-TV saying: “On behalf of Mr. Adams, these allegations are simply that: mere statements made by the state in an effort to thwart the lengthiness of the jury selection process.”

CNN has reached out to Brian Steel, another Young Thug attorney, and Calland.

Young Thug won a Grammy Award in 2019 for his work with Childish Gambino and Ludwig Göransson on the hit song “This is America.”

The rapper was initially indicted in May on charges of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and participation in criminal street gang activity.

A re-indictment filed on August 5 in Fulton County Superior Court accuses him of nine new charges, including participating in criminal street gang activity and violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act.

He also was indicted on other charges of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a machine gun.

Jury selection is ongoing.

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Brian Walshe: Husband charged with murdering his wife Ana Walshe is expected to appear in court today

January 18, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

CNN
—

Brian Walshe is expected to be arraigned in court Wednesday after being charged with murdering his wife Ana Walshe, a Massachusetts mother and corporate real estate manager who had been missing since the new year.

Brian Walshe, 47, has been in jail since January 8 when he was arrested and charged with misleading investigators, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have accused Walshe of intentionally delaying investigators in order to cover up evidence, alleging he lied about some of his actions in the days following his wife’s disappearance.

Evidence supporting the murder charge against Walshe is likely to be presented in court Wednesday, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said. He declined to share further details.

The husband, who is being held in a Norfolk County corrections facility, will be brought to Quincy District Court for the arraignment, which could begin as early as 9 a.m., the district attorney’s office said.

An attorney for Brian Walshe declined to comment Tuesday.

Since Ana Walshe’s employer reported her missing on January 4, authorities have scoured the couple’s home, performed a sweeping search of the town of Cohasset, and poured through dumpsters looking for any sign of what happened to the 39-year-old mother of three.

The searches have uncovered several pieces of potential evidence, including a hacksaw and apparent bloodstains at a trash collection site and searches in Brian Walshe’s internet records for how to dismember and dispose of a body, law enforcement sources have previously told CNN.

And while prosecutors say police have found blood stains and a bloody, broken knife in the couple’s basement, authorities have yet to announce the discovery of Ana Walshe’s body.

Ana Walshe’s friend and former colleague Pamela Bardhi told CNN she felt rage and relief upon hearing investigators believe her friend was murdered.

“I just had this horrible gut feeling and I prayed I was wrong,” she said Tuesday. “I prayed that it wasn’t the case. And here we are now finding out a few hours ago there’s a murder charge … That’s a heavy, heavy thing,”

Though Bardhi is terrified to learn the details in the case, she said she hopes the truth will emerge.

“I think that the truth is a real double-edged sword. It’s painful to know, but it’s necessary,” she said. “I think that those kids deserve to know what happened to their mother, no matter what, and her family and her friends.”

The couple’s three children, all between the ages of 2 and 6, are in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, a spokesperson said.

So far, several pieces of possible evidence have emerged in Ana Walshe’s disappearance, including her husband’s allegedly false statements to police and multiple items found in and around the small coastal town of Cohasset.

Brian Walshe told police he last saw his wife the morning of January 1 when she left for a work trip to Washington, DC, according to a police affidavit. The husband said he spent the rest of the day running errands for his mother and spent January 2 spending time with his kids.

However, prosecutors say there is no evidence Ana Walshe took her usual rideshare or taxi to the airport, or that she took a flight or arrived in DC. Her phone also pinged near the couple’s home overnight on January 1 into January 2.

Additionally, investigators allege Brian Walshe never ran errands for his mother on New Year’s Day and say he took an undisclosed trip to Home Depot on January 2, where prosecutors say he spent about $450 on cleaning supplies, including mops, a bucket and tarps.

On January 4, Ana Walshe’s employer, real estate company Tishman Speyer, called police to report her missing, according to investigators. A Cohasset police log obtained by CNN says, “Company has contacted the husband. He has not filed a police report.” Brian Walshe’s defense attorney Tracy Miner has said he called his wife’s workplace before they reported her missing to say he hadn’t heard from his wife.

A number of items were collected when investigators conducted searches north of Boston and were sent to be tested as potential evidence, the Norfolk district attorney has said, declining to provide details.

Law enforcement sources have told CNN that investigators found a hacksaw, torn cloth and apparent bloodstains at a Boston-area trash collection site.

A bloody knife and blood stains were also found in the couple’s basement, prosecutor Lynn Beland said. Additionally, the husband’s internet records show searches for “how to dispose of a 115-pound woman’s body” and how to dismember a body, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

The charges against Brian Walshe in his wife’s disappearance are the latest in a string of legal troubles for the husband.

In 2021, he pleaded guilty to three federal fraud charges related to a scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol art online. He was placed under house arrest as he awaits sentencing and was required to get approval to leave his house for specific activities at specific times.

Investigators allege Brian Walshe took several unapproved trips the week after his wife disappeared that could be violations of the terms of his house arrest, a police affidavit says.

Additionally, a police report obtained by CNN shows Ana Walshe reported someone threatened to “kill (her) and her friend” in 2014. Brian Walshe was the person involved in the report, a spokesperson for the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department confirmed.

The case was closed because the victim refused to cooperate with the prosecution, police said.

In 2019, a relative and family friends also painted Walshe as a violent and untrustworthy person during a legal battle over his father’s estate. In affidavits filed in the case, two friends of Brian Walshe’s father accused Walshe of financial misconduct and said he is “a sociopath.”

CNN has reached out to current and previous attorneys for Brian Walshe but has not heard back.

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Club Q shooting suspect Anderson Aldrich appears in court, charged with 12 new counts

January 13, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

CNN
—

The suspected gunman accused of killing five people in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last November is facing an additional 12 counts, raising the total to 317.

Anderson Lee Aldrich appeared in court in person Friday, where Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen announced the new felony charges, including four attempted murder charges and two hate crimes.

Aldrich, 22, was initially charged in December with 305 counts, including charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, assault and bias-motivated crimes causing bodily injury.

The new charges were added for two additional victims present at the nightclub during the shooting at Club Q, Allen told District Judge Michael McHenry.

Aldrich – whose attorneys say identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns – faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted on the first-degree murder charges.

The suspect allegedly entered Club Q late November 19 with an AR-style weapon and a handgun and opened fire, killing Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump. At least 19 others were injured, police have said, most of whom suffered gunshot wounds.

The attack was halted by two patrons who took down and contained the suspect until police arrived at the club, which was seen as a safe space for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs.

Ahead of an earlier hearing, Aldrich’s attorneys said the suspect identified as nonbinary and would be addressed as Mx. Aldrich – a distinction Allen said would have “no impact” on his office’s prosecution of the case.

A neighbor of the accused shooter who said he sometimes played video games with Aldrich told CNN the suspect never mentioned they were nonbinary.

Aldrich’s next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on February 22.

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Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger appears in court, waives right to speedy probable cause hearing

January 12, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

CNN
—

The man suspected of killing four University of Idaho students appeared in court Thursday for a status conference, where a judge scheduled a preliminary probable cause hearing to begin June 26.

Bryan Kohberger, who faces four counts of first-degree murder – in the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 – appeared in court wearing an orange prison uniform with his feet shackled. The 28-year-old waived his right to a speedy probable cause hearing within 14 days, and he spoke only briefly while answering the judge’s questions.

The public defender representing the suspect requested the judge allow four or five days for the probable cause hearing this summer, and the judge indicated she would block the week of June 26 for the matter. The judge also ordered Kohberger to remain remanded in state custody with no bond.

Kohberger has been held without bail in the Latah County jail in Idaho since last week following his extradition from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested late last month. Kohberger, who also faces a charge of burglary, has yet to enter a plea, and a court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referencing the public records of the case.

After a night out, the four undergrads were found dead November 13 in an off-campus home, according to police, fraying nerves in the college town of Moscow, Idaho, along the Washington state border.

Follow live updates: Bryan Kohberger appears in court

Authorities arrested Kohberger almost seven weeks later, taking him into custody at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, where an attorney said he had traveled for the holidays. And while it took almost two months for authorities to publicly name a suspect, police – who faced mounting criticism while the investigation outwardly appeared at a standstill – had begun focusing on Kohberger as a suspect weeks earlier.

In the meantime, a neighbor of Kohberger’s in nearby Pullman, Washington, told CBS News the suspect asked him about the killings days after they occurred, allegedly saying, “Yeah, seems like they have no leads. Seems like it was a crime of passion.” The neighbor asked not to be identified, CBS reported.

Among the most notable pieces of evidence was a witness account from one of the victims’ surviving roommates, who told police she saw a man dressed in black inside the house the morning of the killings, according to a probable cause affidavit released last week. The witness described the man as about 5-foot-10 or taller and not very muscular but athletically built with bushy eyebrows, it said.

Investigators were also drawn to a white sedan seen in local surveillance footage in the area around the home. By November 25, they had told local law enforcement to look out for the car, by then identified as a Hyundai Elantra.

Days later, officers at Washington State University, where Kohberger was a PhD student in criminal justice, found such a vehicle and discovered it was registered to Kohberger, the affidavit says.

When investigators searched for his driver’s license information, they found it consistent with the description of the man dressed in black provided by the roommate, the affidavit says, specifically noting his height, weight and bushy eyebrows.

Kohberger got a new license plate for his car five days after the killings, the affidavit says. When he was arrested in Pennsylvania last week, a white Elantra was found at his home, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who represented the suspect in his extradition.

Other evidence listed in the affidavit included phone records showing Kohberger’s phone had been near the victims’ home at least a dozen times since June. Records also show the phone near the site of the killings hours later, between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m., the document says.

Additionally, trash authorities recovered from Kohberger’s family home revealed a DNA profile linked to DNA on a tan leather knife sheath found lying on the bed of one of the victims, the affidavit said. The DNA recovered from the trash is believed to be that of the biological father of the person whose DNA was found on the sheath, it said.

Kohberger was also surveilled for four days before his arrest, a law enforcement source told CNN. During that time, he was seen putting trash bags in neighbors’ garbage bins and “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the source.

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Business

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrives in court to face charges

January 3, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

New York
CNN
—

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has arrived at a Manhattan federal court where he is set to appear to face charges that include cheating investors out of billions of dollars.

Authorities have accused Bankman-Fried of stealing customer funds from FTX to cover loans taken out by Alameda Research, FTX’s affiliated crypto hedge fund. They also say he used those funds to make investments in other companies and donate to campaigns of politicians from both parties to influence public policy.

In public statements following FTX’s collapse in November, Bankman-Fried has insisted that he didn’t commit fraud and was unaware that customer funds were being used improperly.

He is expected to plead not guilty Tuesday.

Two senior executives from Bankman-Fried’s crypto businesses — Gary Wang, the co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, who served as Alameda’s CEO — have pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges and are cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Ellison apologized while entering her plea last month, telling the court that she “agreed with Mr. Bankman-Fried and others to not publicly disclose the true nature of the relationship between Alameda and FTX, including Alameda’s credit arrangement.”

As part of his release, Bankman-Fried is under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palot Alto, California. He is wearing a monitoring device and has surrendered his passport.

He could face up to 115 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Last month, a US judge released him on a $250 million bond in his first appearance on American soil since his arrest in the Bahamas, where he lived and ran his businesses.

Bankman-Fried’s parents, both law professors at Stanford who co-signed his bond, have “become the target of intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats,” defense lawyers wrote in a letter to the court, while asking to redact the names of two other co-signers, known as “sureties.”

“There is serious cause for concern that the two additional sureties would face similar intrusions on their privacy as well as threats and harassment if their names appear unredacted on their bonds or their identities are otherwise publicly disclosed,” the letter states.

Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried orchestrated “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to cover losses at its sister hedge fund, Alameda Research.

FTX and Alameda both filed for bankruptcy in December after investors rushed to pull their deposits from the exchange, sparking a liquidity crisis and triggering contagion across the crypto industry.

FTX’s new CEO, John Ray III, who made his name overseeing the liquidation of Enron in the early 2000s, said in a congressional hearing that customer funds deposited on the FTX site were commingled with funds at Alameda, which made a number of speculative, high-risk bets.

Ray described the situation at the two companies as “old-fashioned embezzlement” at the hands of a small group of “grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals.”

— CNN’s Allison Morrow and Samantha Murphy Kelly contributed to this report.

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Business

Sam Bankman-Fried to appear in court Monday to drop extradition fight

December 19, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

New York
CNN
—

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in a Bahamas court on Monday to reverse his decision to contest extradition to the US, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.

Bankman-Fried is expected to agree to extradition to the US, the person said. Reuters first reported thank Bankman-Fried would withdraw his extradition fight Monday.

It remains unclear what time Bankman-Fried will appear in court. If he waives his extradition, he would likely return to the United States quickly. Once in the states, he will appear before a US judge for an arraignment and bail hearing.

CNN has reached out to Bankman-Fried’s lawyers, and the Bahamas Attorney General.

Last Tuesday, federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York charged Bankman-Fried with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison if convicted on all eight counts against him, though he likely wouldn’t get the maximum sentence.

On top of that, US market regulators filed civil lawsuits accusing Bankman-Fried of defrauding investors and customers, saying he “built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto.”

Bankman-Fried remains in the Bahamas, where FTX was based, and was arrested last Monday night. He was arraigned Tuesday, and a Bahamian judge denied his request for bail, saying that he posed a flight risk. His extradition to the United States could take weeks.

Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried conspired with others on numerous schemes, including misusing customer deposits held in FTX that were used to cover the expenses of Alameda, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund..

Bankman-Fried also allegedly defrauded lenders to Alameda by providing them misleading information about the hedge fund’s financial condition.

The 14-page indictment also alleges that Bankman-Fried conspired with others to violate federal election laws by making political donations to candidates and fundraising committees between 2020 and November 2022, in excess of federal legal limits and in the names of other people.

– Allison Morrow contributed to this report.

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Business

As the world courts TSMC, Taiwan worries about losing its ‘silicon shield’

December 10, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Hong Kong
CNN
—

Semiconductor giant TSMC was feted this week by US President Joe Biden and Apple CEO Tim Cook during a ceremony to unveil its $40 billion manufacturing site in Arizona — a huge investment designed to help secure America’s supply of the most advanced chips.

But back home in Taiwan, there is deep unease over the growing political and commercial pressure being applied to the world’s most important chipmaker to expand internationally. The company is building a facility in Japan and considering investing in Europe.

“They’re like the Hope Diamond of semiconductors. Everybody wants them,” said G. Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, a research organization specializing in chips. (The Hope Diamond is the world’s largest blue diamond, which now resides at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington.)

“Customers in China want them to build there. Customers in the US want them there. And customers in Europe want them there too,” he added.

Apart from the risk that TSMC will take its most advanced technology with it — stripping Taiwan of one of its unique assets and reducing employment opportunities locally — there are fears that a diminished presence for the company could expose Taipei to greater pressure from Beijing, which has vowed to take control of the self-ruled island, by force if necessary.

TSMC is considered a national treasure in Taiwan and supplies tech giants including Apple

(AAPL) and Qualcomm

(QCOM). It mass produces the most advanced semiconductors in the world, components that are vital to the smooth running of everything from smartphones to washing machines.

The company is perceived as being so valuable to the global economy, as well as to China — which claims Taiwan as its own territory despite having never controlled it — that it is sometimes even referred to as forming part of a “silicon shield” against a potential military invasion by Beijing. TSMC’s presence gives a strong incentive to the West to defend Taiwan against any attempt by China to take it by force.

“The idea is that if Taiwan became a powerhouse in semiconductors, then America would have to support and defend it,” said Hutcheson. “The strategy has been super successful.”

A day before Tuesday’s Phoenix ceremony Chiu Chenyuan, a lawmaker with the opposition Taiwan People’s Party, grilled Foreign Minister Joseph Wu about whether there is a “secret deal” with the United States to disadvantage Taiwan’s chip industry.

Chiu claimed that the chip giant was under political pressure to move its operations and its most advanced technology to the US. He cited the transfer of 300 people, including TSMC engineers, to the Arizona plant. In response, Wu said there was no secret deal, nor was there any attempt to diminish the importance of Taiwan to TSMC.

Patrick Chen, the Taipei-based head of research at CL Securities Taiwan, said there was a common concern on the island about TSMC’s growing international importance, the pressure it is facing to expand, and what that means for Taiwan.

“It is similar to what happened in the US in the 70s and 80s when manufacturing jobs were being shifted away from the States into other countries. Many local jobs were lost and cities bankrupted,” he said.

CNN has asked TSMC for comment about its expansion plans.

Its CEO, CC Wei, had previously said: “Every region is important to TSMC,” adding that it would “continue to serve all the customers all over the world.”

Founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, TSMC is not a household name outside Taiwan, even though it produces an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced computer chips.

Semiconductors are an indispensable part of just about every electronic device. They are difficult to make because of the high cost of development and the level of knowledge required, meaning much of the production is concentrated among a handful of suppliers.

Concerned about losing access to crucial chips, particularly as tension has escalated between China and the United States, as well as between Beijing and Taipei, governments and major consumer-facing companies like Apple have asked semiconductor companies to localize their operations, according to experts.

“TSMC’s decision to expand its Arizona investment is evidence that politics and geopolitical risks will play a bigger role than previously in supply chain decisions,” said Chris Miller, author of “Chip War: the Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology”.

“It also suggests that TSMC’s customers are asking for more geographic diversification, which is something that wasn’t previously a key concern of major customers.”

On Tuesday, TSMC said it was increasing its investment in the US by building a second semiconductor factory in Arizona and raising its total investment there from $12 billion to $40 billion.

Chang had previously said its plant in Arizona would produce 3-nanometer chips, the company’s most advanced technology, as advances in chip manufacturing require etching ever-smaller transistors onto silicon wafers.

These announcements alarm politicians like Chiu of the Taiwan People’s Party’s. He frets about the island losing out as TSMC is courted globally.

Chen of CL Securities said national security concerns among governments globally are driving TSMC’s expansion. But he believes the company will continue to manufacture its most advanced technology at home.

“This would make economic sense given [the] lower salaries [and] higher quality of Taiwanese engineers,” he said, adding that the company needs the approval of the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs to move its most advanced technologies abroad, which it was unlikely to give.

Many experts believe that by the time 3-nanometer chips are being made in Arizona, TSMC’s Taiwan operations would be producing even smaller, more advanced chips.

Hutcheson also believes TSMC will keep its most cutting-edge development teams in Taiwan.

“Once you have a team of people doing development work, they work very closely together. You don’t want to disrupt that. It’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.

— CNN’s Wayne Chang contributed to this report.