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Right, and that's my biggest fear. The process side of this industry is in a really scary spot right now. TSMC is killing it. Nvidia is using Samsung to fab th
by 013a 6y ago
Right, and that's my biggest fear.
The process side of this industry is in a really scary spot right now. TSMC is killing it. Nvidia is using Samsung to fab the RTX 3xxx chips, and there's some rumblings that low yields are a reason why those are in such short supply (not to mention, whenever Samsung releases a new phone only some regions get the Exynos chips, because historically they couldn't produce enough of them; Samsung used to have a pretty cool relationship with Qualcomm whereby Snapdragons were fabbed with Samsung, but more recently, they've moved to TSMC).
On the high performance side, everyone is moving to TSMC. If Samsung and Intel's fabs continue to exhibit issues at these smaller process node sizes, the monoculture is only going to get worse. We need Intel to get their act together, not just because it pushes better design innovation from AMD and Nvidia (not that they need it right now), but because their fabs are a critical, independent part of the software supply chain. They're the last western company with any form of high yield fabrication on high performance chips. At this point, we shouldn't just be worried about Intel's bottom line; we need to start being legitimately worried about national security (both in tactile cyber-warfare terms, and also more nebulous economic terms with regard to western manufacturing).
- ethbr0 6y agoThe geopolitical angle is not to be forgotten either. TSMC is majority-based in a country whose land and government is claimed by another, nearby, much larger country. A country willing to leverage international economic options to further that claim. TSMC's global importance has direct implications on the world's appetite for intervening or preemptively selling arms against a hypothetical Taiwan Strait invasion.
- ip26 6y agoWhich in turn, I figure, makes keeping TSMC one of the best in the world an absolute top priority of the ROC.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoThat’s an interesting point. I’m sure it’s not lost on folks in the region the importance of TSMC when Xi is telling troops to “prepare for war” Hopefully their plan to deal with the 30million extra men isn’t war ( https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-02/13/content_28183839.htm https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-02/13/content_28183... )
- AnthonyMouse 6y agoThe interesting question is which company it makes the most sense to try to save. Intel seems to be plagued by various mismanagement and doesn't have a strong record as a contract fab for the other companies that may need a competitor to TSMC. If you're going to save somebody it may make as much sense to try to get one of the other players back into the state of the art game, like GlobalFoundries, which also operates several good (but not as good as TSMC) contract fabs in the US.
- kasabali 6y ago> whenever Samsung releases a new phone only some regions get the Exynos chips, because historically they couldn't produce enough of them That's not true. The reason for that has always been Quallcomm's patent shakedown.
- kasabali 6y ago> whenever Samsung releases a new phone only some regions get the Exynos chips, because historically they couldn't produce enough of them That's not true. The reason for that has always been Quallcomm's patent shakedown.