[HN Gopher] TSMC R&D chief: There's light at the end of the chip...
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TSMC R&D chief: There's light at the end of the chip shortage
 
Author : t23
Score  : 85 points
Date   : 2022-02-28 18:48 UTC (4 hours ago)
 
web link (spectrum.ieee.org)
w3m dump (spectrum.ieee.org)
 
| [deleted]
 
| danuker wrote:
| Recent discussion:
| 
| Global chip shortage may soon turn into an oversupply crisis
| 
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30489538
 
| turbinerneiter wrote:
| Well, I'm banking on an oversupply which makes production cheaper
| by making my team build up chip design knowledge, so we have some
| designs ready when it happens. If not, FPGA dev skills will still
| be super useful for our work.
 
  | madengr wrote:
 
| ohazi wrote:
| If we manage to get through this chip shortage and then China
| decides to invade Taiwan and we lose TSMC, I'm gonna fucking lose
| it. Everything feels so fragile right now.
 
  | jotm wrote:
  | Tell me about it. I have invested in a new business (anyone
  | want a fully custom PC case? heh), and now I have to stock up
  | on food and seriously consider how to live with long mass
  | blackouts, as well as prepare for mobilization to fight Russian
  | invaders if they succeed in Ukraine. Eh, I'm already suicidal,
  | so that would be a better way to go, I guess.
 
  | winstongator wrote:
  | I wonder if TSMC has a self-destruct button. I do not think
  | they want CCP to take over those fabs. Agree, this is a worst
  | case scenario, and we need to get at least one TSMC fab in the
  | US.
 
    | Traster wrote:
    | I imagine the conversation goes like this "Sorry, Mr Xi
    | Jinping, your bombs caused seismic activity that destroyed
    | the calibration of our machines and of the the 5,000 highly
    | trained engineers we employ, only 2 turned up today and I'm
    | not sure how much work we can expect from Raffles the team
    | mascot.
 
    | j_walter wrote:
    | There are a few key points in the process that you could
    | easily disrupt and pretty much cause a scorched earth type of
    | response. There are a few ways to do it as well...like export
    | all of the photo masks to the US or Europe. Those fabs can't
    | produce anything without them...and all of the ones for their
    | Taiwan advanced fabs could probably all be loaded into a
    | dozen or less shipping containers. Destroying them is another
    | way to go about it if you can't get them out of the country
    | safely.
 
  | Traster wrote:
  | This is absolutely the lens we need to view the Ukranian crisis
  | through. It's actually quite surprising that Europe has acted
  | so strongly and unanimously in their condemnation of Russia
  | given that they _really_ need Russian gas to heat their homes.
  | Sure, they haven 't literally turned off the gas because they
  | can't, but they've done everything but. It's up to Russia at
  | this point but they absolutely can turn off that gas, and it
  | has been suggested that they were limiting exports for the last
  | 6 months to make sure Europe didn't have any stockpiles to
  | weather an event like this.
  | 
  | I think recent events send a message to China that Western
  | countries are perfectly willing to act against their own
  | interests purely to punish a country that steps out of line.
  | The whole of western Europe will suffer to punish Russia in
  | this conflict, but the conflict has taken a situation where
  | countries were semi-committed and made them fully committed.
  | Germany's stance now, would've been unthinkable 1 month ago. It
  | highlights how easy it is to push countries away.
 
    | GoToRO wrote:
    | There are two pipes: one bings gas from Russia and the other
    | cash from Europe. You turn the first one off, the second one
    | is off as well.
 
| WithinReason wrote:
| "In his personal opinion--not necessarily that of TSMC--it is
| going to take two to three years to bring new fabs online to
| resolve the situation."
 
  | jaywalk wrote:
  | Given his position within the company, I'd say that his
  | personal opinion holds quite a bit of weight.
 
    | nickff wrote:
    | My understanding is that presenting 'official positions'
    | outside of shareholder meetings and disclosures can cause
    | legal issues. He may be stating that it's a personal opinion
    | to avoid that issue.
    | 
    | https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/regulationfd.asp
 
  | shmerl wrote:
  | That's from now or from the beginning of that construction?
 
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