[narrator]

How many millions of people do you need to be self sufficient for 3nm semiconductors on Mars? TSMC has 65,000 employees. ASML has 32,000 employees and 5000 suppliers. I think at some point the Mars project would reach a point where you hit a population ceiling because too much stuff that couldn't be made on Mars would have to be imported and there aren't frequent enough launch windows or cargo capacity to do it.

[monocasa]

Because of that, I think it's more likely we'll build up an micro g manufacturing base. Manufacturing without super fund sites, and you can drop the finished goods in any gravity well that wants them, earth or mars.

[narrator]

Don't you think manufacturing semiconductors in deep space adds even more complexity on top of the already ridiculous complexity of doing it on Earth or Mars?

[marcosdumay]

It looks to me that doing almost anything in deep space adds less complexity than doing it on Mars. But I agree about Earth.

[Teever]

I think a better question is how many hundreds, or thousands of people do you need to be self sufficient for 45nm semiconductors on Mars.

[mr_toad]

> How many millions of people do you need to be self sufficient for 3nm semiconductors on Mars?

At a guess, 23.19

However you don’t need the latest process node to produce most electronics. And integrated circuits are probably the last thing you’d produce off world.