Mostly posting this because I saw it on AskTD on Reddit, but anyway, the point is that half or more of the world’s semiconductors are produced in Taiwan, and mainland China annexing Taiwan will be disastrous for the tech industry.
Supposedly regulations, bribery and cost of labor is why semiconductors aren’t produced here, but what exactly are said regulations, because every time people mention this, no one ever posts them.
There is no way that Taiwan (or the US) would just hand over TSMC intact to the Chinese. With SMIC stuck on 14nm, with 7nm and 5nm in development hell, the EUVL machines at TSMC would be the real goal in an invasion. No way those would remain functional even if China did take the fabs. And its not like China could then go to ASML and ask for spares or replacements.
Just a guess but I bet the regulations they're talking about are probably related to mining necessary elements for semiconductor production. Antimony, cobalt, coltan (columbite-tantalite), and more are all used and require mining operations that can (if not done properly without proper mitigation and safety) produce toxic byproducts and runoff into the environment.
I don't really trust "American" (increasingly not actually) corporations to do it, but it's immaterial since they are mostly banned from mining at all.
The fabrication plants would require some billions but the real reason it never happens is that it would cost some politicians and corporate execs profits in the near term as supply chains were figured out to shift it back to American production.
They do produce semiconductors here. The main reason Taiwan is kicking so much ass is because TSMC invested in its foundry business and Intel did not. And intel like a decades behind, and you can’t fix a company with that sort of engineering/business-culture bankruptcy overnight.
Mostly posting this because I saw it on AskTD on Reddit, but anyway, the point is that half or more of the world’s semiconductors are produced in Taiwan, and mainland China annexing Taiwan will be disastrous for the tech industry.
Supposedly regulations, bribery and cost of labor is why semiconductors aren’t produced here, but what exactly are said regulations, because every time people mention this, no one ever posts them.
There is no way that Taiwan (or the US) would just hand over TSMC intact to the Chinese. With SMIC stuck on 14nm, with 7nm and 5nm in development hell, the EUVL machines at TSMC would be the real goal in an invasion. No way those would remain functional even if China did take the fabs. And its not like China could then go to ASML and ask for spares or replacements.
Just a guess but I bet the regulations they're talking about are probably related to mining necessary elements for semiconductor production. Antimony, cobalt, coltan (columbite-tantalite), and more are all used and require mining operations that can (if not done properly without proper mitigation and safety) produce toxic byproducts and runoff into the environment.
I don't really trust "American" (increasingly not actually) corporations to do it, but it's immaterial since they are mostly banned from mining at all.
The fabrication plants would require some billions but the real reason it never happens is that it would cost some politicians and corporate execs profits in the near term as supply chains were figured out to shift it back to American production.
They do produce semiconductors here. The main reason Taiwan is kicking so much ass is because TSMC invested in its foundry business and Intel did not. And intel like a decades behind, and you can’t fix a company with that sort of engineering/business-culture bankruptcy overnight.