[fundad]

A few other things jumped out to me: - Automotive's advanced features require chips but not the most advanced chips (by design, for reliability). - Micron's HQ is in the US but has operated globally since 1998 including design. ("Micron really went global in terms of its operations once it acquired the TI DRAM operations in 1998") - TSMC's 90% share of global semi is why Apple can get the exclusive on advanced processes. - Isn't a lot of CHIPs Act money help prop up Intel who didn't succeed in mobile and is laying off thousands anyway? - Apple did not cause poor pay and working conditions in China, the conditions, pay and environmental protections are how China attracts businesses. - Apple can not tax you because they can not arrest you if you don't pay 30% commission. - Massimo is medical device company, I'm curious how big a semi concern they are.

[alephnerd]

> Automotive's advanced features require chips but not the most advanced chips

Exactly, and if Matt Stoller was honest he would bring up that point.

Most automotive chips use 28nm, 40nm, and 60nm nodes and China has been very competitive in this space now because of existing capacity built from OSAT and AMTP consolidation in China by Taiwanese and Malaysian/Singaporean players like UMC before the 2019 HK protests, MediaTek, and ASMPT from the 2000s-2010s.

It's analog chips, 28nm/40nm nodes and Packaging that have been getting a significant amount of CHIPS funding, as well as similar funding from the Japanese, Taiwanese, South Korean, Malaysian, and Indian governments recently.

From a NatSec perspective, it's those kinds of nodes that have a critical impact as most weapons systems can subsist on a Intel i7 and Nvidia Maxwell comparable CPU and GPU.

Think EWS, C-RAMs, Guidance Systems, etc.

> Isn't a lot of CHIPs Act money help prop up Intel who didn't succeed in mobile and is laying off thousands anyway

Those layoffs are staff who don't have experience with High NA EUV processes (aka staff who didn't skill up). I can safely say that.

The CHIPS funding is a mix of subsidizing High NA EUV nodes as well as domestic OSAT and AMTP/Packaging capacity.

[duskwuff]

Also probably worth mentioning that a lot of the automotive chip shortages were a result of industry-specific factors:

1) Auto manufacturers incorrectly predicted that the pandemic would result in much lower sales, and reduced their component orders accordingly. When auto sales stayed stronger than expected, they were forced to buy those parts on the open market - reducing the number available to other customers.

2) A couple of major semiconductor manufacturers had incidents at their facilities (most notably, a fire at a Renesas fab) which limited production.

[doctorpangloss]

Autos manufacturers assembled 1000 parts in China and call it 1 chip for import quota purposes.

There was no “chip” shortage. There was an assembly labor shortage in China, a real shortage, cause by the disruption of the pandemic.

[duskwuff]

> There was no “chip” shortage.

Where are you getting that idea? There was absolutely a chip shortage! A lot of electronic components which were readily available before 2020 became unavailable or prohibitively expensive, and stayed that way for as long as a year or two afterwards.

[fundad]

BTW, the quote is from Sanjay Mehrota's Oral History https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/20...