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Japanese Chip Makers to Unite
Doctor Memory writes "The Register reports that several Japanese semiconductor manufacturers (Toshiba, Hitachi and Renesas, and possibly NEC and Matsushita) are in talks to create a "semiconductor superpower" to counter rivals in Taiwan, the US and China. The firms are in talks to create a shared foundry, which might set the stage for the creation of a 45-nanometer process well in advance of the competition."
That the chip makers will also physically unit to form the mighty robot Chiptron.
"I'll form the head!" -Sorry, couldn't resist.
Just got this from my /usr/bin/fortune:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (The Times of London)
Dear Sir,
I am firmly opposed to the spread of microchips either to the home or
to the office. We have more than enough of them foisted upon us in
public places. They are a disgusting Americanism, and can only result
in the farmers being forced to grow smaller potatoes, which in turn
will cause massive unemployment in the already severely depressed
agricultural industry.
Yours faithfully,
Capt. Quinton D'Arcy, J. P.
Sevenoaks
Most of this stuff is moving to China as fast as humanly possible.
R&D and (b)leading-edge manufacturing is still in Taiwan, but moving at lightning speed to China ASAP.
As I recall:
Employees cost roughly 1/3 the price of an American worker. Employees in China cost roughly 1/4 the price of a Taiwanese worker.
Is my recollection still true?
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
What? There's no such thing as Godzilla? Has anybody told Johnny Socko about this?
Too bad Sony's not involved...it could be the ass.
One of the reasons Japan isn't doing so hot is that they can't compete as well as they used to now that their labor wages are so high. I find it amazing that any business leader would think by eliminating all competition in their own country they are going to be more competitive on the world market. Since when has IBM or Sun decided that buying out Intel, AMD, and all the other chip makers is going to make them sell more chips in Asia? No, we in America do precisely the opposite. We stab our own domestic companies in the back unless they can do it for cheaper and better. We would happily see IBM, Sun, Intel, and AMD bite the dust if they bit the dust due to a leaner, more aggressive, and better producer.
What Japan should look at instead of conglomeration is lowering the cost of entrepeneuring, and encouraging young people to start companies. Rather than forcing on the youth the ideal of getting into a good college so you can get hired by a good company, they should push on the youth the concept of rebelling against conventional wisdom and inventing new businesses and technology to slay the dragons. This would keep the existing companies competetive because they would have to compete just to keep their domestic revenue. Instead, they are forming a cartel of sorts that will discourage innovation and competition, and the Japanese people are looking the other way. They don't have a culture of entrepeneurship, and they haven't worked to create one. Now they will get screwed by higher prices and crappier products thanks to an unrestricted monopoly. (Phase 2 of the plan, if it isn't obvious, is tariffs or restrictions on imported electronics.)
Maybe the US system of education is doing well for our country precisely because it is so incredibly broken compared to Japan's. People have a much better chance of succeeding economically by entrepeneurship than education and employment in our country. That's why your local independent plumber and painter are making more money than you are and they haven't even seen the inside of a college campus. And the net result is that people in our country know that the only way to be truly fabulously wealthy is to quit your job and go form your own company.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
This is hardly a nail in our coffin. The US knows that monopolies are bad because they become lazy and charge high prices for crap. If anything, this will ruin the semiconducter economy in Japan as they become equated with bloated prices and shoddy work.
How would you feel if you heard that all the top semiconductor companies in the US were going to merge? Wouldn't your next reaction be something about monopolies and anti-trust? Wouldn't you expect to see higher prices for shoddier work? That's exactly what's going to happen in Japan. I assume the next step is to start using the Japanese government to enforce favorable trade controls to keep the conglomerate alive.
It's competition that keeps U.S. companies honest. If they can't compete, they go out of business, to be replaced by companies that can compete. In Japan (and to a large extend, Korea) mama government will start passing out welfare checks when national corporation X stops being profitable. (We'll see if China is going to behave the same. All predictions say "yes".)
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.