President Donald Trump says he's imposing a 100% tariff on computer chips— a move that raises the specter of higher prices for electronics, autos, household appliances and other essential goods that depend on the processors.
A bit of chip history: Taiwan Semiconductor (the current pseudo-monoply in cutting edge processor making) rose as Taiwan the country transitioned from a dictatorship to democracy.
They got state funding, and support for thier business as trade opened up. To simplify, it was like a mix of hyper free-trade capitalism and technocratic command economy/socialism no one on either end of political spectrum would like. And it worked! It’s still working.
The CHIPS act in the US was a baby step in that direction, which (even with Intel’s incredible corporate dysfunction) got me excited.
…And that is basically the opposite of what Trump is proposing.
Basically, take away Intel/Micron/IBM subsidies and tax the shit out of their existing overseas business. And deregulate them instead of directing them.
In other words, drain their capital, and give them free reign to think short term as their manufacturing circles the drain.
To be fair to Trump, most business people do not grasp how indescribably capital/research intense processor manufacturing is. Investment is in the many billions, planning takes decades and is extremely technical, and dependent on economic and research forecasts. They have to be forced to think long term, given truckloads of cash to do it, and not get derailed by quarterly earnings targets and cutting long-term projects on the vine for quick cash.
But still… this is like the worst thing he could have done, IMO.
Biden did a lot of great stuff but the USA would rather live in a reality TV show from hell while marching towards authoritarianism apparently. Oh wait, they don’t understand any of that shit because half of them can’t fucking read.
Yes, we all know the most successful economic endeavors are funded by taxpayers. Then leeches come in to steal the profits from the public and useful idiots are all-to-proud to support them.
Just look at how Iceland has the cheapest electricity on the planet; it’s because they built their infrastructure using public money without an incentive to maximize profit.
TSMC would not have thrived if it was purely nationalized, and could have easily collapsed into capitalist hell.
For the processor fab business, specifically, the ideal conditions seem to be some kind of bastardized hybrid. Samsung and China Semi are not far from ‘hybrids’ either, while the corpses of pure extremes (GloFo, Intel, the Soviet’s and modern Russia’s computing efforts, DARPA projects, other pure government efforts and some RISC ones) are littered everywhere.
Intel was heading towards a state-supported hybrid, but apparently not anymore (and is now barreling into capitalist collapse).
The other part of what I’m saying is this does not necessarily apply to, say, the hotel business like Trump is channeling, where short term maneuvering and branding pay off more. Nor engergy generation, which is different too (and probably should be nationalized in such a geothermal-heavy place like Iceland).
In which nation is energy generation not using vast natural resources at huge initial outlay where companies have a boner for monopolising or cartels and exploiting scarcity to drive up prices?
Side note: DARPA’s TCP/IP networky thing seems to have had some future in it!
A bit of chip history: Taiwan Semiconductor (the current pseudo-monoply in cutting edge processor making) rose as Taiwan the country transitioned from a dictatorship to democracy.
They got state funding, and support for thier business as trade opened up. To simplify, it was like a mix of hyper free-trade capitalism and technocratic command economy/socialism no one on either end of political spectrum would like. And it worked! It’s still working.
The CHIPS act in the US was a baby step in that direction, which (even with Intel’s incredible corporate dysfunction) got me excited.
…And that is basically the opposite of what Trump is proposing.
Basically, take away Intel/Micron/IBM subsidies and tax the shit out of their existing overseas business. And deregulate them instead of directing them.
In other words, drain their capital, and give them free reign to think short term as their manufacturing circles the drain.
To be fair to Trump, most business people do not grasp how indescribably capital/research intense processor manufacturing is. Investment is in the many billions, planning takes decades and is extremely technical, and dependent on economic and research forecasts. They have to be forced to think long term, given truckloads of cash to do it, and not get derailed by quarterly earnings targets and cutting long-term projects on the vine for quick cash.
But still… this is like the worst thing he could have done, IMO.
CHIPS Act. Yet another major Biden win that gets overlooked in favor of shitting on him.
Biden did a lot of great stuff but the USA would rather live in a reality TV show from hell while marching towards authoritarianism apparently. Oh wait, they don’t understand any of that shit because half of them can’t fucking read.
Yes, we all know the most successful economic endeavors are funded by taxpayers. Then leeches come in to steal the profits from the public and useful idiots are all-to-proud to support them.
Just look at how Iceland has the cheapest electricity on the planet; it’s because they built their infrastructure using public money without an incentive to maximize profit.
That’s not what I’m implying.
TSMC would not have thrived if it was purely nationalized, and could have easily collapsed into capitalist hell.
For the processor fab business, specifically, the ideal conditions seem to be some kind of bastardized hybrid. Samsung and China Semi are not far from ‘hybrids’ either, while the corpses of pure extremes (GloFo, Intel, the Soviet’s and modern Russia’s computing efforts, DARPA projects, other pure government efforts and some RISC ones) are littered everywhere.
Intel was heading towards a state-supported hybrid, but apparently not anymore (and is now barreling into capitalist collapse).
The other part of what I’m saying is this does not necessarily apply to, say, the hotel business like Trump is channeling, where short term maneuvering and branding pay off more. Nor engergy generation, which is different too (and probably should be nationalized in such a geothermal-heavy place like Iceland).
In which nation is energy generation not using vast natural resources at huge initial outlay where companies have a boner for monopolising or cartels and exploiting scarcity to drive up prices?
Side note: DARPA’s TCP/IP networky thing seems to have had some future in it!