(Bloomberg) -- August Chuang believes the best thing she can personally do to protect her homeland from a Chinese invasion is to buy Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. shares.

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The 31-year-old Taipei office worker has 70% of her domestic assets in the world’s largest chipmaker. It’s been a good investment, with the stock more than doubling since she first bought shares in 2020. But this is more than just a financial decision for Chuang.

“TSMC has turned Taiwan into an irreplaceable high-end technology supplier that other countries can’t risk losing,” said Chuang. “That deters China from invading Taiwan. So the stronger TSMC becomes, the safer I feel.”

She’s not alone. While collectively owning less than 1% of TSMC, the number of retail shareholders has reached a record this year even as foreign investors have pulled back. In addition to making the chips that power the artificial intelligence boom, the company appeals to many Taiwanese who believe that TSMC’s success will determine the self-governing island’s ability to fend off China. They have dubbed the firm the “holy mountain that safeguards the nation.”

TSMC’s importance in the tech industry’s global supply chain is the basis of the thesis. The company is the largest global contract chipmaker and has a virtual monopoly over the world’s most advanced chips, including those designed by Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. It is on track to start making state-of-the art 2-nanometer chips domestically next year. While TSMC recently opened a chip plant in Japan and is building additional factories in the US and Europe, the Taiwanese government has pledged to keep its most advanced semiconductor technology at home.

That means Taiwan benefits from the so-called “silicon shield”. Any military action by China against Taiwan would likely trigger retaliation from its allies, in particular the US. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the US would protect the island. Tensions have risen after the island elected president Lai Ching-te earlier this year, a man whom Beijing once called an “instigator of war.” Since Lai took office, China has held large-scale military drills around Taiwan and sent a record number of warplanes across a key boundary in the Taiwan Strait.

The certainty of the US commitment weakened after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump questioned whether the US has a duty to defend the island. Still, the retail euphoria is showing few signs of cooling even as TSMC shares have retreated from record highs. TSMC’s odd-lot trading turnover — mostly contributed by retail investors — has surged to a record in July, according to Taiwan exchange data. Some of these small-time investors are taking out mortgages, borrowing from their savings and even diverting funds from pending marriages both in hopes of strong returns and to support the chipmaker, according to online forum discussions and local media reports.