> Effectively--nobody builds a line for an older node, ever. UMC, Taiwan's No. 2 fab, offered to build a new 64nm line in an existing fab in exchange for a $1B

> Effectively--nobody builds a line for an older node, ever. UMC, Taiwan's No. 2 fab, offered to build a new 64nm line in an existing fab in exchange for a $1B firm order commitment. Nobody bit, they preferred instead to lean on the Biden administration to pressure the Taiwanese government to allow them to skip the line. A new fab on old process nodes is not viable if it has to compete against fully amortized hand-me-down fabs that used to be cutting-edge 10-20 years ago.