Taiwan greeted Nancy Pelosi as a true friend when the US House Speaker visited the country in August in what was seen as a demonstration of support against Chinese military threats.

But when President Tsai Ing-wen hosted Pelosi for lunch at a neo-baroque palace in Taipei, two men at the table were a reminder that the friendship is coming under strain: Morris Chang, founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and Mark Liu, chair of the world’s largest contract chipmaker.

The global semiconductor industry is now dominated by Taiwan, thanks to TSMC’s meteoric rise. Chang told Pelosi in stark terms that Washington’s efforts to rebuild chip manufacturing at home