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Everybody and their mom were building chip fabs during pandemics. All people predicted the sales will grow.

• oskarkk 4y ago
  They're still building them, it's not like you can build a fab in 2-3 years. The push to increase (global) chip production capacity is a long term strategy. And for many it's also national security strategy (moving production away from Taiwan). This plunge in profits is rather just a temporary dip, I don't think that anyone expects that chip demand will not be generally growing over the next 10-20 years.
  • missedthecue 4y ago
    In a few years I wonder if governments will be looking at the massive subsidies they're paying every year just to keep these fabs afloat during the obvious upcoming chip glut and wonder what they were thinking. Demand for chips will continue to grow (historical growth is about 5% a year) but I don't think the market can support a dozen new fabs around the world without taxpayer money. that's just too much supply and extremely expensive insurance for "national security".
    • oskarkk 4y ago
      China attacking Taiwan is a very real possibility, and costs of completely losing access to Taiwanese chips would be much higher than these subsidies. Imo, this expensive insurance is necessary.