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My first reaction to this plan is that it’s for the birds. The government would be better off just building a fab themselves. The raw materials aren’t that hard
by hyko 6y ago
My first reaction to this plan is that it’s for the birds. The government would be better off just building a fab themselves. The raw materials aren’t that hard to get hold of; integrating consumer electronics into military systems would likely take just as long, if not longer (with all sorts of other negative effects on quality and security). I guess the analogy is with scrap metal drives in WWII, but this situation is nothing like that at all. It’s a fantasy scenario that makes no sense.
We defend Taiwan with everything we’ve got. There is no plan B, and it’s not just about semiconductors.
- Tade0 6y agoIIRC the US navy is currently using XBox controllers: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16333376/us-navy-military-xbox-360-controller https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16333376/us-navy-military... Of course this is a far cry from ripping a SoC from a smartphone and putting it into e.g a bomber drone, but I assume there's much more being done - just not published.
- hyko 6y agoWow. As long as they’re not using joy cons I guess!
- mbreese 6y agoOne of the reasons cited for using XBox controllers was the availability. If one breaks, you can find them at any port. Very apropos in this context... I have a vision that on a submarine there is a cable box, not unlike the one that most of us probably have, filled with random cables with connectors we haven't used in years. And somewhere in that tangled mess is a spare XBox controller. I can imagine some poor Seaman trying to untangle a the controller cord so that they can use a periscope. I'm sure the Navy is far more organized, but it's funny to think about.
- qchris 6y agoI absolutely believe it-I use one professionally to maneuver an underwater ROV. They're intuitive, already familiar to a lot of people, and surprisingly reliable.
- codeulike 6y agoThe government would be better off just building a fab themselves. But you can't just 'build a fab' can you? Thats the point. You need a shipment of ASML's magic EUV machines and a bunch of their engineers and a bunch more technicians and managers with the right kind of skills for running a large cutting edge fab.
- mkr-hn 6y agoYou only need those for the latest and greatest. A lot of options open up if the priority is any decently fast processor over the latest. Multi-CPU systems fell out of favor in the consumer space because single CPUs got so fast with these processes, but multiple CPUs with an older process is fine in this scenario.
- elihu 6y ago...or just be content with a slower chip.
- dcolkitt 6y ago> a bunch of their engineers and a bunch more technicians and managers with the right kind of skills In a WWII scenario, how long does it take to rapidly retrain a bunch of people with these skills. We have no shortage bunch of brilliant, quantitatively minded people trading derivatives and writing ML models to recommend TV shows. In a total war scenario, I assume most would be drafted for the war effort. Semiconductor engineering is complex, but probably not so complex that your average Math Olympiad couldn't pick it up in a month or two.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- incrudible 6y ago> Semiconductor engineering is complex, but probably not so complex that your average Math Olympiad couldn't pick it up in a month or two. We have a chip shortage going on for months now, if all it took was two months and a bunch of smart people, those billions of dollars in chip orders would've made it happen. That tells me it has to be a bit more complex than you think.
- AlgorithmicTime 6y agoThey are building a fab, or at least they're having TSMC build a fab in Arizona.
- User23 6y agoThe only chance the USA has in a hot war for Taiwan is using nukes to which the PRC would respond in kind. That would be even worse for semiconductor availability than reunification. So let’s cool it with the macho idiocy and instead focus on diversifying the semiconductor supply chain to areas that aren’t inevitably going to fall back under Chinese control.
- foobarian 6y agoYou should look at the stockpile sizes. Unless Russia gets involved it would not be a balanced situation at all.
- ethbr0 6y agoSeriously. We're talking about horrible things, here. But if it came to a nuclear exchange, China has ~300, and the US and Russia ~6,000 each. Total yield numbers are harder to come by(?), so those are +/- considering tactical-scale inventory. Historically, this was because China's nuclear doctrine was to limit their stockpile to a minimal deterrent. Personally? Sitting about 40km from a priority US target, I'd support the US risking a strike to guarantee Taiwan's freedom. Either you stand for something, or you don't. And China doesn't get to claim modern territory by dusting off historical documents. Hong Kong was untenable, but Taiwan should be a line. If its citizens don't want to be Chinese, they get to make that choice. PS: Russia would probably care less about a strike on China, unless China negotiated their support via treaty. That ship sailed in the early 60s.
- MangoCoffee 6y ago>The government would be better off just building a fab themselves OP: >years long semiconductor unavailability due to sabotage of domestic fabs OP said "sabotage of domestic fabs". what the govrt. lay out is what happened when all else failed thus going door to door to collect semis.