4 ms·
> It’s too late. Hardly. Intel has fabs and, as we found out from Covid, we don't have capacity in old nodes either. Intel can very much still print money.
by bsder 2y ago
> It’s too late.
Hardly.
Intel has fabs and, as we found out from Covid, we don't have capacity in old nodes either. Intel can very much still print money.
Fabless companies are really cool--until shit hits the fan and nobody will run your chips anymore--but, hey, who cares, it's not like that ever happens, right? I mean you'd have to get an enemy invasion or terrorist bombing or tsunami or earthquake or fire in the fab line or global pandemic--and, pfft, how common are those, really?
All it takes is some high-level dumbass trying to curry favor with Pooh Bear over Taiwan and suddenly Nvidia, Qualcomm, Apple, etc. have a net value of zero for the forseeable future.
But, hey, it's super more profitable to not actually have all that icky manufacturing. Ewwwwwww.
- Panzer04 2y agoYup. Fabless is also totally dependant on churning out good designs. Intel's current gen chips are fine, compared to AMDs. Not great, not terrible, just competitive. The reason Intel are worth less is because investors are actually assigning negative value to their fabs - until they see Intel churning out advanced chips again it's just a money pit.
- mnau 2y ago> suddenly Nvidia, Qualcomm, Apple, etc. have a net value of zero for the forseeable future. That is an exaggeration. There is still Samsung, Nvidia even fabbed there few years back. It's worse than TSMC, but it's not like Intel is the only alternative.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- bsder 2y agoRe-engineering a product for a different fab often takes years. And, if TSMC goes dead, nobody, not Samsung or Intel or anybody, would be able to absorb all the volume required, anyway.
- mnau 2y agoYeah, you are right. Though I am not worried about latest and greatest. We can easily run everything on Sandy Bridge from 2011. It's the other stuff that is underappreciated. Everything has chips in it. From thermometers through vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, fridges, doorbells. And that is just consumer stuff. The machines that make the goods are full of electronics too. All infrastructure, from water to red lights, medical equipment... We got a very, very small taste of it for cars in last crisis. And nobody is building fabs for legacy chips... Except China.
- 7speter 2y agoThats a great idea until China and NK launch a coordinated attack on both Taiwan and South Korea
- selimthegrim 2y agoSamsung is in TX too
- mnau 2y agoWe should definitely be prepared when China attacks USA. Supersonic missiles to the fabs, ASML, Tel facilities too. Maybe we should make fabs on moon, just as an insurance. That's not a joke BTW. If China attacks both SK and TW, that's a war with US and this will happen. Fabs in USA will be a very valid military target.
- ls612 2y ago
- mrweasel 2y ago> All it takes is some high-level dumbass trying to curry favor with Pooh Bear over Taiwan Or just one large earthquake to disrupt production for a few months. I'm sure that TSMC has planed for earthquakes, but they are still highly centralized, where as Intels have their fabs spread out nicely (not all the same node size so if you really need 5nm you might still be in trouble).
- rvba 2y agoMaybw centralization is the competetive edge. Their best people can easily move from fab to fab.