TAIPEI -- Taiwan's chipmakers have launched an unprecedented investment spree worth around $120 billion that will strengthen their grip on the global market, even as the U.S. warns against overreliance on an island at risk of a Chinese invasion.

Southern Taiwan Science Park was a hive of activity in late May. Trucks rumbled along the road, hauling in materials like steel beams for the forest of cranes building ever more chip factories at the site.

The industrial park in the city of Tainan began as a production hub for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's leading contract chipmaker. It is home to some of the most advanced chip fabs in the world, producing processors for Apple iPhones.

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