Slashdot Mirror
Computer Chips Are Still 'Made in USA' (axios.com)
For all the wishful thinking about manufacturing more laptops and iPhones in the U.S., there is one sector of tech manufacturing where America remains a leader: computer chips. From a report: Some $44 billion worth of semiconductors are exported from the U.S. each year, making them America's fourth leading manufacturing export after cars, airplanes and refined oil. There are roughly 80 wafer fabrication plants (aka fabs) in the U.S., spread across 19 states. [...] An even greater share of the world's computer chips are designed domestically and made overseas by companies including Qualcomm, Apple, Broadcom and Nvidia. A bunch of the high-tech gear needed to produce chips is also designed and/or made in the U.S.
Sure they still do, but China is beginning to manufacture X86 CPUs directly. It's only a matter of time until they catch up and crush Intel and AMD through undercutting, and throwing money at the problem. https://www.tomshardware.com/n...
. . . computer chips with state-of-the-art lithography soon all will be manufactured overseas. Specifically, they will be made by exactly two companies, Samsung and TSMC, with GlobalFoundries' recent announcement that it is stopping development of its 7nm process. GF operated the old IBM facility in Fishkill, NY, and AFAIK was the last company offering state-of-the-art foundry services with a fab in the US.
Intel is still in business, of course, and even has a foundry business, but it cannot seem to successfully operate it -- substantially all of its wafer starts are chips of its own design. With the capital cost of each new-generation fab reaching $20 billion, it's only a matter of time until Intel -- which has only its internal product base of chip designs to fill its fabs, while Samsung and TSMC make chips for the entire industry -- can no longer afford the move to the next generation.
If the rest of the semiconductor industry (or the US DoD) wants high-performance computer chips, there's now nowhere to go except Samsung and TSMC. It will be interesting to see what politicians do when they realize that the best digital chips can no longer be manufactured in the US. The choice seems to be either (1) have our economy -- everything from cell phones to missiles -- dependent on chips manufactured overseas, or (2) subsidize Intel's foundry business and the semiconductor equipment manufacturers to the tune of tens of $billions, just to keep a US source of high-performance semiconductors.
Why?
Politics of course..
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Why?
Politics of course..
Could you please expand?
Why?
Politics of course..
Could you please expand?
P o l i t i c s o f c o u r s e.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
"An even greater share of the world's computer chips are designed domestically and made overseas by companies including Qualcomm, Apple, Broadcom and Nvidia."
This reads as though Qualcomm, Apple, Broadcom and Nvidia are making chips. What would be clear and accurate is:
"An even greater share of the world's computer chips are designed domestically by companies including Qualcomm, Apple, Broadcom and Nvidia and made overseas."
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Why?
Politics of course..
Could you please expand?
P o l i t i c s o f c o u r s e.
I'm not sure if I should laugh, or hunt you down and smack you upside your head with a 2x4.
I mean, I thought it was hilarious, and it wasn't the name calling garbage you see here too often.
TSMC and Samsung are the leaders in chip making. And second class Intel and AMD both have shady Middle-East ties from Israel and Dubai.
The only reason is automation. Jobs were never going to come back from chip manufacturing.
They have a factory crew for setting up the parts and feeding the machines. Pretty cheap, doesn't actually make much money for anyone but the corporation running it. It's all "unskilled" and low pay...setting up all those machines, getting material dimensions in spec and running the machine is just considered general labor.
Don't forget, a hefty chunk of Qualcomm's - and pretty much all of Apple's - designs are not original, but instead are based on IP from ARM, a British company (although recently bought out by SoftBank).
In fact, Broadcom and Nvidia are also licencees of ARM IP as well, but less of their overall product range derives from it.
This sig left unintentionally blank.
If the US leads in chip manufacture, why can't it be competitive in putting the pieces together?
Because most of the CPU silicon used in the commonest devices - phones and laptops - is fabbed in Asia.
Because most of the parts - like screens, RAM and flash storage - are also made in Asia, so it's cheaper to bolt it all together in a location closest to the source of the most parts.
Because final assembly of something like an iPhone is a manual process that requires the dexterity of nimble fingers. It's not quite the same as bolting doors onto a Chevvy.
This sig left unintentionally blank.
However:
expand ikspand/
verb
verb: expand; 3rd person present: expands; past tense: expanded; past participle: expanded; gerund or present participle: expanding
* become or make larger or more extensive
* give a fuller version or account of.
Because it hardly has any of the pieces right now - it would be a massive effort to put all the supply chains in place for the various electronics components needed for a whole computer when the US currently makes little more than chips. Currently those supply chains are in Asia (which also has the advantages of cheap labor and lax environmental laws). I'd compare it to going from just making engine blocks to making a whole car, but that underplays the difficulty too much.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Re "why can't it be competitive in putting the pieces together?"
Think back to the 1970 and 1980's when the CPU thing needed new production lines and was no longer low yield skilled lab work.
Non first world nations part pay their workers in food, dormitories. Their introduction to work is free as its part of the nations free "education".
Tax reductions and industrial export support then further supports the electronics brand in the poor nation.
No unions. Lots of pollution.
The big brands moved to very low cost nations and got to import their new product back into the USA. Computer products from the USA for the world of consumers.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
However: expand - verb ...
(1) become or make larger or more extensive
(2) give a fuller version or account of.
Yup, I know; I was married to an English teacher for 20 years, but using the first definition was funnier. :-)
Remember Sue...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
1. Primary production
2. Manufacturing
3. Services
Services will keep things going fine. Lawyers, tax accountants, retail and beauty consultants. That is where the growth will come from.
The author must have forgotten about all the military weapons and hardware we export each year...
This is a crazy article. At the end, it meekly points out that the US has a 13% market share in chip production. Given that the US started this industry, leads in design in this space, leads in capital available for high tech industry, and that the US accounts for 15% to 18% of global GDP, a 13% market share in chip production is very poor performance. This is below what you might expect for a simple commodity that depends only on domestic market size and way below what you'd expect for this industry.
China is being challenged by other countries who can offer cheaper labor. China's companies do what their government tells them to do or else. The corporate tax rate in China is 40% of gross. And the majority of those taxes go to enrich the countries leadership. China is on the verge of watching their economic growth decrease every year. Companies wishing to do business in China are facing pushback against handing over their IP to the Chinese government for access to their domestic markets. And the real eye opener is it is actually cheaper to manufacture goods in the US then in China despite the differences of labor costs. The US offers lower corporate tax rates, cheaper real estate, better infrastructure, lower energy costs, an educated workforce, and much lower government meddling. Throw in cheaper shipping costs and China doesn't look so business friendly.
You'll excuse me if I don't drink that particular batch of koolaid.
There is a reason the US is the worlds number one destination when it comes to people trying to enter the US.
Is that reason simple logic?
It might. If you also happen to breath the air above that land mass.
Think of the political narrative these days... Which party wants to bad mouth the economy and which wants to sing it's praises? Which story is being covered in the press?
I'll leave you to think about the implications.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
There is a reason the US is the worlds number one destination when it comes to people trying to enter the US. People looking to legally immigrate and move permanently to the US. People trying to obtain Visas to attend US Universities and Colleges. People trying to grab the coveted H1B Visas enabling them to work in the US. People who overstay their Visas. And finally the number of illegal immigrants willing to risk life and limb to enter the US using any means possible.
It depends on how you look at it. These (out of date) figures show that it is the largest in absolute numbers, but that is not really surprising given that the US has the 3rd largest population in the world, and definitely will give you a much better quality of life than the 2 larger ones. If you look at it in terms of net migration compared to the population size, it only comes in at #31.
Read it again slowly a couple times, you'll get it eventually.
BS. Even without the colonial exploitation deep Africa was still behind Europe. It's mostly a jungle where there are tropical diseases like malaria, yellow fever and the like. In many parts of Africa you cannot even pasture large bovines because they'll die from disease. Quite often the pasture animals they use are small and kept indoors most of the time in small huts. The countries themselves quite often are kind of like Papua New Guinea. With multiple tribes in the same nation state who neither speak the same language, quite often do not have the same religion, and consider themselves a different race altogether. Ever since the USA and the Soviet Union kicked out the colonial empires from Africa pray tell how much they have advanced since then. What actually happened was a regression in a lot of cases. While the European colonial powers had the capital to invest in infrastructure and in many cases did so, right now many of the African countries simply do not have the capital for investment. Unless they happen to be sitting on a pile of oil and even that has slided down in price from its peak in 2010.
So, import tariffs on US-made (or just "foreign made", for "foreign" meaning "not in ASEAN, EU, etc) will increase to strangle the export of them until the US plants either shut down or have to drop their export prices drastically.
{SLOW HANDCLAP] for the Tiny-Handed Pussy-Grabber-in-Chief.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
The corporate tax rate in China is 40% of gross.
Bullcrap.
I lived in Shanghai, and sat on the board of a Chinese youxiangongsi for several years. There are taxes on net income, and on value added (VAT). There is no tax on gross revenue.