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Isn't the way to bolster the market to avoid the crazy 8nm stuff and just buy into the industry at the large scales. I can't imagine that buying or building mac

Isn't the way to bolster the market to avoid the crazy 8nm stuff and just buy into the industry at the large scales. I can't imagine that buying or building machines to build op amps or voltage regulators isn't within the reach of lots of manufacturers. I assume that this would allow the advanced manufacturers to concentrate on the newest tech unless the shortages are only at the cutting edge? I once heard a major blockage was also the number of companies who had the skill to build machines that build semiconductors was low and therefore prices and leadtimes are high but again, someone who already makes high precision stuff building the lower size fabs must be doable?

mschuster91 5y ago
> I can't imagine that buying or building machines to build op amps or voltage regulators isn't within the reach of lots of manufacturers. The thing is, these things used to be built all over the place. However, consolidation, environmental concerns (the Silicon Valley is one of the US' most polluted areas due to decades of semiconductor manufacture) and market forces have destroyed lots of the capacity that used to exist, and now everyone is stuck and waiting. Not to mention that the people who operated the old fabs are gone for good, either in pension or in completely different careers. Bringing the old fabs back or constructing new ones will take years. Capitalism is great for driving down costs in peace times, but usually the cost-saving comes at the cost (sic) of losing resilience in crisis times, and forget about "perfect storm" events like the one we're currently seeing with corona, coin miners, the shift towards electric mobility and the Chinese saber-rattling against Taiwan.