---
title: "The Island: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/island-the
description: "Island, the: Taiwan, where one company, TSMC, makes the frontier chips and, some of it with outside packaging houses, bonds them into their packages."
---

# Island, the

What does “Island” mean?

Island, theTaiwan, where one company, TSMC, makes the frontier chips and, some of it with outside packaging houses, bonds them into their packages. The island in every machine is the book’s phrase for that concentration. *Chapter 5.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

The book uses this term in a sense of its own.

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 5 — The Island in Every Machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-5)Why every accelerator runs through Taiwan: the foundry, the packaging and the memory that are booked years ahead, and what that does to anyone arriving late with cash.

## Where the record uses it

- Dated test [Chapter 5, the concentration half, due 31 December 2028](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests#2028-8)

## Related terms

- [Frontier](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/frontier)
- [TSMC](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/tsmc)
- [Advanced packaging](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/advanced-packaging)
- [AI factory](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/ai-factory)
- [Booked, allocated, rationed](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/booked-allocated-rationed)
- [CHIPS Act](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/chips-act)
- [Convertible](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/convertible)
- [CoWoS](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/cowos)
- [Custom silicon](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/custom-silicon)
- [Cut-out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/cut-out)
- [DRAM](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/dram)
- [EUV](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/euv)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)