The founder of a crucial Apple supplier issued a warning about the potential catastrophic impact on Wall Street in the event of a war breaking out in Taiwan.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou stated, as translated by Insider, that "If a war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, it wouldn't take a month or even an hour, but just 10 seconds for the Wall Street stock market to collapse." However, the post seems to have been removed by Thursday morning, though a cached version remains accessible.

Gou, the 72-year-old creator of Foxconn, a major contract-manufacturing company, made this statement following a meeting with Thomas Friedman, a columnist at The New York Times. During their discussion, Gou emphasized the significance of Taiwan's role in the global economy, which he believes surpasses that of Ukraine, currently engaged in a conflict with Russia. China claims Taiwan, a self-governing nation and the world's leading chip supplier, as its territory and has been escalating military exercises around the island.