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United States Businesses

US Commerce Dept Pressing Taiwan To Supply More Chips To US Automakers (reuters.com) 52

Posted by msmash from the tussle-continues dept.
The U.S. Commerce Department is pressing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and other Taiwanese firms to prioritize the needs of American automakers to ease chip shortages in the near term, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday. From a report: Raimondo told a Council of the Americas event that longer term, increased investment is needed to produce more semi-conductors in the United States and other critical supply chains need re-shoring, including to allied countries. "We're working hard to see if we can get the Taiwanese and TSMC, which is a big company there, to, you know, prioritize the needs of our auto companies since there's so many American jobs on the line," Raimondo said in response to a question from a General Motors executive.
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US Commerce Dept Pressing Taiwan To Supply More Chips To US Automakers More

US Commerce Dept Pressing Taiwan To Supply More Chips To US Automakers

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  • A mandarin (ironically) talking sense.

  • They cannot (Score:3)

    by Gabest ( 852807 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @05:50PM (#61348204)

    There is an order for 100 million iPhones.

    • Implying there's overlap? Look it's been said time and time again, the problem the automakers are facing are not chip shortages due to demands from other products. The problems were due to years of relying on outdated processes producing chips that sold for bargain bin prices that have finally been shutdown partially due to the downturn, partially due to the writing being on the wall.

      You can't roll Intel 486 chips off the fab anymore either regardless of the likes of NASA paying top dollar for them.

      The car

      • Why should the US auto sector change when the government (who you helped pay to put there) can just call and bully for you?

        • Except this is a bit more like the bully attempting to extort lunch money from someone who left their wallet at home. I don't think even the US government can magic things into existence.

    • i will need my RTX 3080 first or declare a catwah on that CEO's head for already getting the money for Q3 2024 on yet more empty promise of "what we could do if we actually had something to sell you"
      car makers ... MY ASS

  • You know (Score:3, Insightful)

    by javofex917 ( 8047282 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @05:53PM (#61348222)

    "We're working hard to see if we can get the Taiwanese and TSMC, which is a big company there, to, you know, prioritize the needs of our auto companies since there's so many American jobs on the line"

    Who hires people that speak like that?

    • Re:You know (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Xenx ( 2211586 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @05:58PM (#61348248)
      A lot of people speak like this. It was in response to a question, as opposed to scripted. It also looks worse written down.

      • Yeah, was going to say - who doesn't speak like this when talking off the cuff in response to questions? Sure, if you're some dirty nerd addressing other filthy, unkempt nerds then you can assume they know who TSMC is, I guess..

        I remember there was twitter rage over some reporter making fun of a girl talking and how ridiculous she sounded when you transcribed her "like, this, like, that" and other vocal placeholders and claiming it was "sexist" lol, just like they pretend making fun of really bad vocal fry

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by k6mfw ( 1182893 )
        Back in college, my dormmate from El Savador said while talking with someone, they kept saying "blah blah blah you know blah blah blah you know blah blah blah you know..." He was concerned as his English is educated second language, "am I supposed to know all this?"

    • Jim Kirk school of elocution.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @05:54PM (#61348230)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ^^ This. The auto manufacturers created their own damn problem. Remember this the next time they want to be bailed out, and remember that we lost a lot of money the last time we bailed them (and they still had massive layoffs and many of the jobs never came back).

    • Re:They cancelled their orders. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @06:24PM (#61348340)

      That sounds very familiar to anyone that followed the Boeing 787 fastener saga...

      Boeing requested quotes for fasteners for their new 787 during the development phase, and the relevant company gave said quote with appropriate lead times etc required. Boeing came back well after the quote was expired, well after the lead times had come and gone, and demanded enough fasteners for the first 4 aircraft - and got told to sod off.

      Which is why Boeing rolled the first airframe out on 7/8/07 empty, with non-flight-certified fasteners and requiring years of rework afterward to replace said fasteners with flight-certified ones. Boeing was handling the fall out of fastener related issues across the first 20 or so aircraft for years (these aircraft being referred to as the terrible teens), and the first three aircraft were eventually written off as R&D expenses and are now on display (they were originally intended to be delivered to airlines and actually had delivery slots booked, Boeing rarely retains these aircraft themselves).

      A fine example of "we are big, you will bow to our demands when we make them" not working.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

      Do you have a source of this claim?

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @07:25PM (#61348526)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • The fact that you're requesting a source for something that is provided in all ten of the first page search results for "chip shortage cause". Suggests that you're either commenting in bad faith or are so lazy that you'll spend more time posting a comment than you'll spend looking for the answer.

          It has become fashionable on Slashdot to pretend to not know how to search the web in order to employ this tactic. It is particularly pathetic that so-called nerds are playing stupid in order to win arguments. By all means, demand a citation when it does not almost literally jump out and slap you when you perform an obvious web search, but otherwise people, learn to internet.

      • He worked in the project ...

    • Long ago politicians looking for more tax money levied taxes on certain inventories (no, not everywhere) - if you had something in stock you got taxed on it, over and over again as long as it was in stock.

      The response of big businesses was to do what they always do: look for a way around the tax and in the process try to make things even more efficient. Thus was born "just in time delivery". Companies dodged the taxes on inventory (where it was taxed) and realized it also let them not have to have big ware

      • Is this the same tax law that has the side effect of having book publishers
          warehouse in Canada, instead of the the US?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Regardless of any taxes many companies moved to a "just in time" manufacturing system simply because keeping stock on-site costs money. It takes up space, it has to be inventoried and tracked, and if it isn't used immediately sometimes it ends up not being used at all due to engineering changes or cancelled orders. Best to have it arrive just as it is about to be used.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by arQon ( 447508 )

      Jep - while you should sympathize with the actual workers affected by this, the companies themselves deserve absolutely none: they deliberately sabotaged the security and future of their entire business just to save pennies on the total cost of items worth tens of thousands of dollars apiece, to boost their share price by a fraction of a percent and claim bonuses for "optimizing" their production workflow.

      And as always, when the other shoe drops, they want the government whose laws and taxes they flout to b

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bert64 ( 520050 )

        As you point out, they received bonuses and boosted the share price.
        The problem is that everything is aimed at the short term - get your bonus, increase the share price and sell your shares. There is no concern for the long term as the people making the decisions will sell their shares and leave after collecting their bonus payouts, if the company collapses after that why do they care?

  • Jobs matter (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ubergeek65536 ( 862868 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @05:58PM (#61348250)

    Unless those jobs happen to be in other countries.

  • Solidarity forever! (Score:3)

    by Anonymouse Cowtard ( 6211666 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @06:18PM (#61348328) Homepage
    It is the worker who creates all the chips and all the autos. The worker creates all the wealth. But the worker is divided along lines of nationality, race and faith. Lines created to keep the worker subjugated.

    • The robots help as well. Unfortunately the golden colored robots are feuding with the silver robots right now.

  • Automation (Score:2, Insightful)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 )

    The unions slowed down the move to automation & UBI so this is the result. Productivity and quality of life for everyone reduced because enough things can't get manufactured for everyone.

    • No, it's not reduced. It's not at the level where some people want it, but it's not reduced. Time to stop measuring against what things could be.

  • They are going to try and convince the Taiwan company to alter production schedules because the US Gov't (which is NOT a semiconductor buyer) really wants it? Exactly what leverage does the Biden Admin think they have over this company?

    Brilliant!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Hydrophobe ( 63847 )

      > Exactly what leverage does the Biden Admin think they have

      List of US arms sales to Taiwan [wikipedia.org]

      "Might be a small delay in delivery of those defensive weapons systems you guys ordered. You know how things are these days..."

      Remember, Joe Biden as Vice-President in 2016 threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine unless they ousted their top prosecutor. There was a lot of polarized brouhaha and conspiracy theory about the "real" reason for doing so, but the plain fact of threatening to withhold the aid

      • There are also US warships in the Taiwan Strait as well as CCP warships.

        Joe would probably recall the US ships as leverage.

        • There are also US warships in the Taiwan Strait as well as CCP warships.

          Joe would probably recall the US ships as leverage.

          When China fills the void left by those ships, see how many chips the USA gets then.

    • Exactly what leverage does the Biden Admin think they have over this company?

      Nice country you got there. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it. [google.com]

  • easy.
    this is a log jam problem.
    create a non profit corporation.
    its corporate charter is to be able to produce enough types of chips as needed.
    for military needs down to hobby.
    as the chips get processed.
    the next step is circuit board assembly.
    from prototypes to mass production.
    automated.
    peoples jobs will not be making chips and circuit boards.
    peoples jobs will be to design solutions requested by clients.
    these solution providers will need to be trained.
    state and federal training programs already exist for thi

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 )

      create a non profit corporation

      Staffed by nepotism, producing obsolete components and spending 90% of their funding on green initiatives and gender equity.

      And for what? So cars remain available for purchase with something less than 12 years of debt? Most of the Western establishment would be perfectly happy to have new cars and trucks become exclusive to the wealthy. They're convinced the problem with the world is that they haven't reduced the hoi polloi to grass yurts.

      Yet.

  • You can squeeze blood from a stone! Its just a matter of squeezing hard enough.

    Forget the fact that Taiwan is in a drought and their chip fabs require water.

    • Aren't they on an island? As in quite literally surrounded by water. I thought water was used for cooling only, but if salt water isn't good enough, Israel for example desalinates 50% of its total water usage. Desalination tankers are also a kind of cool concept for a temporary solution:

      https://www.rivieramm.com/news... [rivieramm.com]

      But from what I'm reading manufacturing in Taiwan only uses 20% of total water (still a lot), and "supposedly" they aren't affected that much if what they say can be believed. I also read tha

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