Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> A "Manhattan Project" would be building some shocking new technology that didn't previously exist.

You’re missing forest for the trees. ASML at the moment has the monopoly on these machines. This is not only a great tool for the West to keep China at bay, but also a way to maintain economic dominance. Even if they can’t get the machine up and running until 2030, and the machine is a generation behind, China has effectively gained leverage in world theater.

From geopolitical perspective, it’s huge. Right now Taiwan produces the world’s chips, so China plays nice. The minute they can produce their own chips, even an older generation, they can invade Taiwan anytime they want. And then the rest of the world won’t even have older chips.

Taiwan’s geopolitical position is vastly more complex than the fantasy where invasion would follow merely from fab parity.

It won’t. But again you’re missing the point. It’s one less incentive not to, a big one too.

> And then the rest of the world won’t even have older chips.

This basically just means Europe wont have older chips.

TSMC is already producing a significant percentage of their chips in Arizona. And they've even slated ~30% of their total production of 2nm chips and better will be produced in USA by 2028-2029.

You mean the TSMC factory that it's workers hate and has been facing heavy delays and power outages???

https://restofworld.org/2024/tsmc-arizona-expansion/

From a China/Asia-centric newspaper? I would expect them to say that.

The article mentions the language and cultural barriers, and the rigid hierarchy with old bosses who demand blind obedience, even when the rules are counterproductive.

I have been living in Japan for years now and I have had the same experience, so I am inclined to believe the article. Mixing Western workers with East Asian management is extremely difficult, to put it mildly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com