It’s not really in Taiwan’s interest to let TSMC invest in a fab on US soil, because it would decrease the US’ dependency on Taiwan, and thus lessen the need for the US to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion.
Yeah, any US based chip fab associated with tsmc will be years behind by design. Keeping their competitive advantage is the only thing they haven’t been on the nasty end of a full coup.
That said, the image of setting comparable fabs in the US can go a long way politically.
In response, when the interviewer asked him whether he was confident about the funds flowing into America, Trump replied: “I’ll tell you why I trust them.” He added: “First of all, I think they’re trustworthy people. But more importantly, they have no choice, because they won’t be able to pay the tariffs if they don’t do it.”
It will be the American public who will be paying the tariffs on TSMC fabbed semiconductors.
What kind of reasoning is that? He trust them because he trust them?
You’re trying to figure out what a 5 year old with dementia was thinking.
It’s simply repeating the lie. Doesn’t matter if he understands or doesn’t. He says it. He says it again and again. Media repeats it. Facebook repeats it. Your uncle’s or cousin’s repeat it.
It’s now everywhere.
This dumb mfker, TSMC is at capacity at all times, if they’re cut-off from the US market they’re gonna get to more orders from their backlog. Perhaps some Huawei 910 dies too.
Lol! Didn’t Biden already make this deal? Weird that Trump is taking credit for something that was already in the works. That’s not like him, at all.
Yes but Trump un-did Biden’s work almost immediately did he not?
Iirc the CHIPS act was responsible for the attempt build a fab here.
They already built one entire facility, and were committed to building two more, all before Trump even came into office. Even if Trump rolled back the CHIPS act, that kind of expansion doesn’t just get cancelled, it would get paused. Trump would simply have to let it continue as it was before, in order to lift that pause.
He deserves no credit for it, other than to get out of their way and let them do what they were already going to do.
TSMC holds the world by the balls. There are no other foundries like TSMC. They’re so big and so important they’re virtually the only reason why the US spends billions maintaining a military presence in the South China sea to hold China at bay and defend Taiwan. If they want to tell Trump to suck eggs, the only loser is Trump.
If I recall the company that makes the machines for fabs is even more a monopoly as they’re the only people making them. I think they’re Dutch.
What I don’t understand is that there are a lot of billionaires with deep DEEP pockets. Why don’t they invest in a competitive chip fab elsewhere? Why doesn’t the CCP make their own equivalent chip fab?
Catching up when you can reverse engineer is usually much much easier than innovating. This has been part of China’s business model for years, so why doesn’t it work for advanced chip fab?
Well, looking at a microchip under a microscope might reveal a lot about how Intel/AMD/Nvidia design their chips. But it’s not going to tell you how those chips were then constructed.
That’s extremely specialised knowledge requiring very advanced technology and tooling that’s globally only really available at TSMC. It’s also so specialised that no one person holds all the knowledge in their head, it requires hundreds or even thousands of people.
But even if you figure that out, you still need to actually know how to build the tools that can manufacture wafers. And that knowledge is almost exclusively known to ASML, a company whose products can cost nearly half a billion dollars each.
China does invest in their own fabs, but even they purchase the (older-gen) tools from ASML. Compared to TSMC, they’re 2 generations behind. Compared to ASML, they’re 5 generations behind.
That’s not to say they aren’t innovating by the way. Huawei/SMIC developed chips that are only approx. 18 months behind using innovative techniques that gets more out of the older equipment they’re forced to use. It’s impressive stuff. But again, this does require the state to throw its full weight behind the initiative to create more domestic manufacturing, which a single billionaire is unlikely to manage on their own.
So valuable to the point that if anyone, billionaire or invading nation tries to take over, they literally have self destruct built in
Thank you for the detailed response! That’s absolutely fascinating!
So does TSMC have some kind of exclusivity agreement with ASML, or is it for financial reasons, or is it mainly a personnel/knowledge issue that gives them their edge?
I suppose any effort to spin up a new fab is going to be behind the 8-ball immediately for a while while they deal with all the issues that arise.
One last thing: could you give some advice on how to get more educated on the topic? Any favourite news sources, or recommended readings, or is it just a matter of “seek and ye shall find”?
So does TSMC have some kind of exclusivity agreement with ASML, or is it for financial reasons, or is it mainly a personnel/knowledge issue that gives them their edge?
It’s all of those I suppose. Not many know how to use ASML’s machines, not many have the means to purchase them and then there’s export controls that prevent ASML from exporting the latest and greatest to China.
One last thing: could you give some advice on how to get more educated on the topic? Any favourite news sources, or recommended readings, or is it just a matter of “seek and ye shall find”?
Mostly “seek and ye shall find”, though I also know a bit from a cousin who works for ASML.
China has their own fabs - e.g. SMIC. They manufacture a lot of semis. They’re currently doing 7nm. Meanwhile there’s work towards a homegrown EUV machine that can unlock lower node. I think Huawei is planning to test theirs later this year. If theirs doesn’t work, someone else’s would. China has deployed significant capital and people to the effort so it’s a matter of time until some team cracks it.
The market may not be suited for competition yet, because of the absurd build costs (mainly due to extremely specialised knowledge with limited transferability), I guess.
tsmc may be, and very likely are, run by ‘trustworthy people’… they’d have to be, i think, given the sheer significance on a global scale of their business and the products they produce for so many varied customers–many of whom compete with one another and have to trust their chip vendor to keep so many things safe and secure from those competitors and others.
the current u.s. administration? fuck no. try again in 2029.
Sooooo…
They have “no choice” when they have no rivals, in a free-market economy that the orange toddler allegedly champions…
He’s a fucking moron. The only people dumber than him are the people who vote for him
There are about 77,303,568 people who are dumber than Trump.
Fucking horrifying
Especially given their propensity to reproduce…
I’m irritated by the stupid people, but I’m greatly angered by the people who could have stopped this shit, but didn’t bother to vote
They’re just ad culpable. Apathy isn’t a valid excuse when they knew that the outcome would be horrific
Compulsory voting is one of the best things about Australia and New Zealand, neither place is perfect, but it’s hard to imagine them becoming as fucked as America is (and always has been)
How to be stupid 101…
Tell China what to do.
