Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by petralithic 301 days ago
Which American companies manufacture chips on the latest node? Certainly not Texas Instruments, Global Foundries and one might even argue Intel, compared to Samsung and TSMC. It is a matter of national security that Intel not fail.
2 comments
SirMaster 300 days ago
What government or military things use anywhere near the latest node chips though? I thought all that stuff usually uses really old chips, because that stuff only changes like once every couple decades.
link
petralithic 300 days ago
The government wants to build AI data centers and I'd assume they're not using decades old nodes to do so. There is always a use case and therefore national security interest for the latest nodes.
link
freeopinion 300 days ago
It is a matter of national security that state-of-the-art fabs exist within the nation and that the expertise to operate them also exists within the nation.

As you point out, it is questionable whether Intel has either of these.

It might be argued that it is critical to national security that Intel be replaced by HP. Or Nvidia. Or Sun, or Motorola, or Micron, or TI, or...

What's that you say? Most of those companies had their chance and failed? None of those companies are really in the game?

Why among all the list of failed or current fab owners is it so important that Intel be declared sacred?

Why not recognize that Intel is getting its clock cleaned by a company that doesn't design chips? Why not look outside of the chip design industry to save the chip fab industry?

link
qwopmaster 300 days ago
The bet seems obvious - Intel has been failing for a while, but they're still much better positioned to produce what the US government wants than some random companies like HP or TI. Their fabs aren't quite on the bleeding edge and the yields aren't quite what they'd like to have but it's still much more advanced than TI's 45-250nm fabs.

If HP, or Nvidia, or Sun, or Motorola wanted the bag maybe they should've tried building their own modern fabs.

link
petralithic 300 days ago
Because Intel is the only player left. What do you mean look outside the chip design industry to save the chip fab industry? It takes a very long time and lots of money to spin up a new state of the art fab, while Intel already has it mostly set up.
link
tomp 300 days ago
> Why among all the list of failed or current fab owners is it so important that Intel be declared sacred?

Has TI ever made anything nearly as complex as CPUs? Has NVIDIA? (Hint: the answer is "no"). Intel is pretty much the only option, though ChatGPT suggests GlobalFoundries as a potential other option (spun out of AMD).

link