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“The best way to defend Taiwan is diplomatically”

Sounds like the cheapest and safest way, but it might not work.

Taiwan supplies a lot of semiconductors to the world, doesn’t it? Maybe a long-term strategy would be to reduce that dependence because if China wants to do a messy takeover of Taiwan, they can do it.

There is one major impediment to China attacking Taiwan in that the CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said it would become inoperable...and that would cripple China's semiconductor industry.

Here's why an attack by China would render TSMC's operations inoperable (from Perplexity.ai):

Based on the search results, TSMC's chairman Mark Liu made comments about the potential consequences of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in an interview with CNN in early August 2022. Here's what he meant when he said TSMC would become inoperable:
Sophisticated manufacturing process: Liu stated that "Nobody can control TSMC by force" and explained that if there was a military invasion, it would "render TSMC's factories not operable".
Global supply chain dependence: The inoperability is not just due to TSMC's refusal to work with an invader, but because of the complex global supply chain and support system required for operations.
Real-time global connections: Liu emphasized that TSMC's operations depend on "real-time connection to the outside world: With Europe, with Japan, with US".
Multiple resources required: The chairman explained that materials, chemicals, spare parts, and engineering software diagnostics all come from various parts of the world . Collective effort: Liu stated, "It's everybody's [combined] effort to make this factory operable".
Disruption of advanced components: An interruption in TSMC's operations would cause "great economic turmoil" in China and globally, as "suddenly their most advance components have disappeared".
In essence, Liu was highlighting that TSMC's advanced chip manufacturing is so intricate and globally interconnected that it cannot simply be seized and operated by force. The complex web of international suppliers, technical expertise, and real-time global collaboration required to keep TSMC functioning would be severely disrupted in the event of an invasion, effectively rendering the facilities inoperable .