4 ms·

I agree with you about borders and customs. However, I don't find war a laughing matter. Lots of people are dying. War is about supply chain and scale. Higher t

by mempko 3y ago

I agree with you about borders and customs. However, I don't find war a laughing matter. Lots of people are dying. War is about supply chain and scale. Higher tech, but lower yield chips would not be good for a war machine. You want simplicity and scale. You don't actually want the latest technology, but robust older, predictable technology. I guess we can laugh that they can't even produce it domestically. https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-ammunition-manufacturing-ukraine-west-officials-2023-9?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-ammunition-manufactur... The Soviet and now Russian approach to war is logistics, math. They use a lot of modelling in their strategy. Its clear they are not having too many logistic problems despite sanctions if they can produce so much. And that is worrying. When supply lines were cut in Kherson by Ukraine, Russia pulled back. If Ukraine wants to win, they need to target supply lines and production capacity. They can target supply lines, but production capacity seems so far out of reach. I guess the fact that neither party has officially declared war on each other means targeting production will remain out of reach. You read that right, neither Ukraine or Russia had officially declared war.

dragontamer 3y ago
Russia isn't producing these STM32 chips. They're getting imported through Taiwan. That means we can stop the production of Russian drones by just being more careful about STM32 exports. No need to bomb or explode anything. NXP chips as well: that's being imported through Europe. Intel Altera chips likely came from Arizona, Texas, Utah, or maybe Israel. There's only so many places those chips are made. ----------- How did a chip made in (probably) Arizona get into a Russian drone that killed Ukrainians? That's what this story is about. (In the case of Intel/Altera FPGAs). There's tons-and-tons of chips that have come from various USA (Intel Altera FPGA), European (NXP), Korean, or Taiwanese (TSMC makes STM32 IIRC) fabrication facilities. Russia is importing them because Russia either has no capability to make these chips at home, or has decided that importing them is cheaper/easier. That's their weakness, its something we can cut-off if we tightened up customs a bit.
- mempko 3y ago
  You are absolutely right. My guess is older high volume chips are harder to control.
- polishdude20 3y ago
  We can stop it but how long will it take to dwindle their supplies? If these drones use one per drone and you can buy thousands of these chips easily, they've got a lot of drones to be built before their own supply runs out
  - dragontamer 3y ago
    Then we do this in preparation of the next war. Iran (Hezbollah/Hamas/Houthis), North Korea, etc. etc. There's plenty of groups around the world who do _NOT_ have the capabilities to build chips who will 100% copy Russia's strategy here. We need to keep these chips out of their hands too. Even if its "too late" to stop it for Russia-Ukraine, its not too late to stop it in say... I dunno... China vs Taiwan scenario in a few years. Better to get started on this today rather than complaining about it again 5 years from now when the _NEXT_ inevitable group starts stealing our chips to build their munitions. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good here. Regardless of the future, we will be happier as a country to have this figured out today, rather than delaying this another few years.

by mempko 3y ago

dragontamer 3y ago

Russia isn't producing these STM32 chips. They're getting imported through Taiwan. That means we can stop the production of Russian drones by just being more careful about STM32 exports. No need to bomb or explode anything. NXP chips as well: that's being imported through Europe. Intel Altera chips likely came from Arizona, Texas, Utah, or maybe Israel. There's only so many places those chips are made. ----------- How did a chip made in (probably) Arizona get into a Russian drone that killed Ukrainians? That's what this story is about. (In the case of Intel/Altera FPGAs). There's tons-and-tons of chips that have come from various USA (Intel Altera FPGA), European (NXP), Korean, or Taiwanese (TSMC makes STM32 IIRC) fabrication facilities. Russia is importing them because Russia either has no capability to make these chips at home, or has decided that importing them is cheaper/easier. That's their weakness, its something we can cut-off if we tightened up customs a bit.

mempko 3y ago
You are absolutely right. My guess is older high volume chips are harder to control.
polishdude20 3y ago
We can stop it but how long will it take to dwindle their supplies? If these drones use one per drone and you can buy thousands of these chips easily, they've got a lot of drones to be built before their own supply runs out
- dragontamer 3y ago
  Then we do this in preparation of the next war. Iran (Hezbollah/Hamas/Houthis), North Korea, etc. etc. There's plenty of groups around the world who do _NOT_ have the capabilities to build chips who will 100% copy Russia's strategy here. We need to keep these chips out of their hands too. Even if its "too late" to stop it for Russia-Ukraine, its not too late to stop it in say... I dunno... China vs Taiwan scenario in a few years. Better to get started on this today rather than complaining about it again 5 years from now when the _NEXT_ inevitable group starts stealing our chips to build their munitions. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good here. Regardless of the future, we will be happier as a country to have this figured out today, rather than delaying this another few years.