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> If for purely political reasons, China may never be able to export these chips to most of the world - which limits their scale - which makes it harder to make

by Yoric 1y ago

> If for purely political reasons, China may never be able to export these chips to most of the world - which limits their scale - which makes it harder to make them cost effective compared to Western chips. Note that this happens at the same time the US is breaking up its own alliances, so as of this writing, there's no such thing as certainty about politics.

ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
>the same time the US is breaking up its own alliances This isn't happening. The US is driving a harder bargain with our allies. No one serious thinks anyone is walking away from alliances with the US.
- brookst 1y ago
  The US has become unreliable and erratic. Countries aren’t cutting ties or anything, but certainly investing to reduce exposure to capricious US leadership. Much of Europe is increasing domestic military production rather than just buying more from the US precisely because the US has publicly discussed leaving NATO and/or not honoring its guarantees.
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
    Increasing domestic military production is actually a great outcome. Obviously Wall Street would have preferred purchasing from US-listed/owned arms companies, but from the perspective of a military alliance, having well-armed allies is the main point. It's really hard to argue with Trump's methods if they led to Europe finally spending on their own defense.
    - markdown 1y ago
      You've moved the goalposts
      - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
        sorry nope. I said that we haven't broken up an alliances and that our allies are now investing in their own defense.
    - antonvs 1y ago
      > It's really hard to argue with Trump's methods On the contrary, his methods are ridiculous. He could have achieved similar ends without kowtowing to Russia, without squandering the opportunity to further weaken Russia’s military capacity, and so on. Something similar applies to pretty much everything else he’s done. He incurs collateral damage on everything even when it’s completely unnecessary to do so. It’s a definitional example of egregious incompetence.
    - brookst 1y ago
      That’s moving the goalposts. The fact that they are doing this because they don’t trust the US to honor its commitments is a very different proposition from “maybe it’s for the best”. And if you’re familiar with world war 1 and 2, you might doubt that significant increase in domestic military production is a wholly good thing. But point stands: it’s an example of formerly-strong alliance that is no longer trusted.
- redserk 1y ago
  Why the framing of alliances like it’s a boolean? The question of “can we trust the American government” is now being asked more often. Existing alliances and new potential alliances face that question, whether or not you personally believe that they should trust America. Even if no concrete actions are being performed with asking that question, the fact that question is even being asked is a major drop from where we were.
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
    You're right, alliances are not boolean. From the US perspective, we have been asking ourselves "can we trust Europe's military capacity" for a very long time and the answer (prior to 2025) was: NO. With Trump on one side and Russia on the other, it seems like the answer has shifted to: MAYBE.
    - Yoric 1y ago
      Frankly, this sounds like you're repeating propaganda. When the US called its allies to its wars, NATO responded. Now that the rest of NATO is being threatened, the US is playing neutral, trying to see which side will bid highest for their help.
      - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
        Which NATO ally is being threatened?
        redserk 1y ago
        Poland[1, 3], Latvia [2], Lithuania [3] 1. https://apnews.com/article/russia-nato-members-borders-airspace-violations-4a7d6c3eabf76c82ebaff434401b3331 https://apnews.com/article/russia-nato-members-borders-airsp... 2. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drone-that-crashed-latvia-carried-explosives-latvian-military-says-2024-09-09/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drone-that-cras... 3. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuania-says-russian-military-intelligence-was-behind-ikea-arson-last-year-2025-03-17/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuania-says-russian-... Among other events, like drones being spotted near commercial airports. Are you suggesting repeated airspace intrusions and acts against civilians are merely acts of innocence?
- traverseda 1y ago
  No one is going to walk away from that kind of alliance tomorrow, sure. Stuff like "we're going to remotely disable military equipment we've sold you" is going to have consequences though. It's not walking away from alliances, it's just focusing on more stable countries.
  - Yoric 1y ago
    To clarify: it's not exactly "remotely disable". It's "block everything that depends on US clouds", which is a considerable downgrade (because you can't upload all mission parameters to an airplane without going through the cloud, and you can't use self-diagnosis features), but not entirely a kill switch. Close enough, though.
  - Our_Benefactors 1y ago
    > Stuff like "we're going to remotely disable military equipment we've sold you" is going to have consequences though. Proof of this happening or even having the capability of happening? There is none.
- fxtentacle 1y ago
  I observe serious financial commitments towards walking away from US tech: The EU is pumping money into what they call "digital sovereignty" left and right. Germany just cancelled their Microsoft subscriptions and replaced them with self-funded Open Source for Schleswig-Holstein, which is roughly 5% of all government employees. That's one hell of a trial run. Germany's "OpenDesk" and France’s "La Suite numérique" even made into the new "Franco-German Economic Agenda 2025", which self-describes as "bilateral coordination to full swing for a more sovereign Europe".
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
    You think our alliances are Microsoft Office licenses?
- Yoric 1y ago
  Are you sure? I mean, the current administration has repeatedly threatened to invade militarily two of its allies. Also, it has repeatedly threatened to not honor military agreements with most others, and both the current president and vice-president have insulted the leaders of several allied countries to their face. Oh, and if that weren't sufficient, the current admin has unilaterally broken all trade treaties (alongside most intellectual property treaties) it held with its commercial partners. The EU is slow at it, but it's no accident that everybody is doing their best to move away from US tech and military dependencies.
- x1ph0z 1y ago
  lol this is a joke right? Ask any Canadian if they think America is driving a hard bargain or pushing away its closest ally.
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
    "closest ally" that doesn't fund their army despite having a huge land mass or their navy despite having a huge coast line and despite being located adjacent to our two biggest threats (China and Russia)

by Yoric 1y ago

ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago

>the same time the US is breaking up its own alliances This isn't happening. The US is driving a harder bargain with our allies. No one serious thinks anyone is walking away from alliances with the US.

brookst 1y ago
The US has become unreliable and erratic. Countries aren’t cutting ties or anything, but certainly investing to reduce exposure to capricious US leadership. Much of Europe is increasing domestic military production rather than just buying more from the US precisely because the US has publicly discussed leaving NATO and/or not honoring its guarantees.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
  Increasing domestic military production is actually a great outcome. Obviously Wall Street would have preferred purchasing from US-listed/owned arms companies, but from the perspective of a military alliance, having well-armed allies is the main point. It's really hard to argue with Trump's methods if they led to Europe finally spending on their own defense.
  - markdown 1y ago
    You've moved the goalposts
    - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
      sorry nope. I said that we haven't broken up an alliances and that our allies are now investing in their own defense.
  - antonvs 1y ago
    > It's really hard to argue with Trump's methods On the contrary, his methods are ridiculous. He could have achieved similar ends without kowtowing to Russia, without squandering the opportunity to further weaken Russia’s military capacity, and so on. Something similar applies to pretty much everything else he’s done. He incurs collateral damage on everything even when it’s completely unnecessary to do so. It’s a definitional example of egregious incompetence.
  - brookst 1y ago
    That’s moving the goalposts. The fact that they are doing this because they don’t trust the US to honor its commitments is a very different proposition from “maybe it’s for the best”. And if you’re familiar with world war 1 and 2, you might doubt that significant increase in domestic military production is a wholly good thing. But point stands: it’s an example of formerly-strong alliance that is no longer trusted.
redserk 1y ago
Why the framing of alliances like it’s a boolean? The question of “can we trust the American government” is now being asked more often. Existing alliances and new potential alliances face that question, whether or not you personally believe that they should trust America. Even if no concrete actions are being performed with asking that question, the fact that question is even being asked is a major drop from where we were.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
  You're right, alliances are not boolean. From the US perspective, we have been asking ourselves "can we trust Europe's military capacity" for a very long time and the answer (prior to 2025) was: NO. With Trump on one side and Russia on the other, it seems like the answer has shifted to: MAYBE.
  - Yoric 1y ago
    Frankly, this sounds like you're repeating propaganda. When the US called its allies to its wars, NATO responded. Now that the rest of NATO is being threatened, the US is playing neutral, trying to see which side will bid highest for their help.
    - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
      Which NATO ally is being threatened?
      - redserk 1y ago
        Poland[1, 3], Latvia [2], Lithuania [3] 1. https://apnews.com/article/russia-nato-members-borders-airspace-violations-4a7d6c3eabf76c82ebaff434401b3331 https://apnews.com/article/russia-nato-members-borders-airsp... 2. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drone-that-crashed-latvia-carried-explosives-latvian-military-says-2024-09-09/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drone-that-cras... 3. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuania-says-russian-military-intelligence-was-behind-ikea-arson-last-year-2025-03-17/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuania-says-russian-... Among other events, like drones being spotted near commercial airports. Are you suggesting repeated airspace intrusions and acts against civilians are merely acts of innocence?
traverseda 1y ago
No one is going to walk away from that kind of alliance tomorrow, sure. Stuff like "we're going to remotely disable military equipment we've sold you" is going to have consequences though. It's not walking away from alliances, it's just focusing on more stable countries.
- Yoric 1y ago
  To clarify: it's not exactly "remotely disable". It's "block everything that depends on US clouds", which is a considerable downgrade (because you can't upload all mission parameters to an airplane without going through the cloud, and you can't use self-diagnosis features), but not entirely a kill switch. Close enough, though.
- Our_Benefactors 1y ago
  > Stuff like "we're going to remotely disable military equipment we've sold you" is going to have consequences though. Proof of this happening or even having the capability of happening? There is none.
fxtentacle 1y ago
I observe serious financial commitments towards walking away from US tech: The EU is pumping money into what they call "digital sovereignty" left and right. Germany just cancelled their Microsoft subscriptions and replaced them with self-funded Open Source for Schleswig-Holstein, which is roughly 5% of all government employees. That's one hell of a trial run. Germany's "OpenDesk" and France’s "La Suite numérique" even made into the new "Franco-German Economic Agenda 2025", which self-describes as "bilateral coordination to full swing for a more sovereign Europe".
- ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
  You think our alliances are Microsoft Office licenses?
Yoric 1y ago
Are you sure? I mean, the current administration has repeatedly threatened to invade militarily two of its allies. Also, it has repeatedly threatened to not honor military agreements with most others, and both the current president and vice-president have insulted the leaders of several allied countries to their face. Oh, and if that weren't sufficient, the current admin has unilaterally broken all trade treaties (alongside most intellectual property treaties) it held with its commercial partners. The EU is slow at it, but it's no accident that everybody is doing their best to move away from US tech and military dependencies.
x1ph0z 1y ago
lol this is a joke right? Ask any Canadian if they think America is driving a hard bargain or pushing away its closest ally.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
  "closest ally" that doesn't fund their army despite having a huge land mass or their navy despite having a huge coast line and despite being located adjacent to our two biggest threats (China and Russia)