Palantir defence chief Mike Gallagher said the AI race makes it more tempting for Xi Jinping to seize Taiwan, home to TSMC, before China falls behind for good. He warned that Beijing could then hold the world economy hostage. US intelligence said in March that an invasion would carry a high risk of failure.

Mike Gallagher, Palantir’s head of defence, has warned that the race for AI makes it more tempting for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seize Taiwan, Bloomberg reported . The island is home to TSMC, the world’s top maker of advanced AI chips, and Nvidia calls it the epicentre of AI .

“ The logic of Xi Jinping sacrificing enormously to take Taiwan is getting more compelling, ” Gallagher said at a defence policy event in Indiana on Wednesday.

“ If we run away with AI, now is his moment to stop us from doing that, because he may not be able to catch up later on, ” he added.

Gallagher, a former Republican congressman who led a House committee on China, joined Palantir in 2024.…