[deeth_starr]

I think you're right.

For the moment companies are reiterating long standing plans for US mfg jobs. But making it sound like new projects. A small number might be new. This is PR.

My guess is that this is not because they like Trump but because trade wars will hurt indiscriminately. So try to create enough cover for his base so he doesn't go "full retard".

[logfromblammo]

If this was their plan all along, then they should have announced a plan to build a new chip fab in Mexico first.

You see, when I was younger, I would occasionally visit a research facility operated by an animal behavior professor at the nearby university. This particular facility kept a wolf pack and a bison herd. The main pack had a big livestock trough for its water. Whenever the research staff refilled it with fresh water, one of the alphas would jump into the trough and urinate in it--every time.

This is the same concept as the Battle Chess duck. You have to give the puffed-up bigwigs a way to mark their territory. Otherwise, they do something worse to show dominance. That funny taste in the water is a whole lot better than having to show your belly with someone else's jaws around your neck.

So you loudly announce moving factory jobs to Mexico, then cave to political pressure on schedule, and proceed with reactivating the mothballed factory.

[deeth_starr]

Sorry, are you saying that all interactions have to go along the "Battle Chess duck" trope?

I see many other options. One, Intel invests 7b in a 7nm factory, oh shit 7nm is delayed, Trump elected, announce same factory now option.

[logfromblammo]

No. I'm saying that the current administration has constrained itself politically, and Intel could have exploited that.

The move to another country is the sacrificial detail that both forces the negotiation and allows a "compromise" to go 100% in Intel's favor.