Re:Europe Is Trying to Reclaim Its Lost Chipmaking Glory
by detaro on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @12:32PM
(#26958198)
Western Europe, where fabs "can't happen". Nobody is complaining about the existing fabs, they really are not worse than other industry, and they get the high-tech/future bonus. No "millions of sanctimonious kids with nothing more meaningful in their lives than marching with signs" as you like to call them against that.
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Re:Europe Is Trying to Reclaim Its Lost Chipmaking Glory
by rsj_hn on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @01:40PM
(#26959064)
I am not saying that fabs can't happen because of something in Europeans' DNA. I am saying they can't happen because of the current political climate. Thus we are talking about obstacles to building new fabs in this thread. Existing fabs are a sunk cost -- the environmental approvals have already been granted, the political battles already waged, etc. In terms of existing fabs, there is a single modern fab in Crolles, France and a few (3?) in Germany. I think that's it for Europe - 4 fabs that can do 300mm. Then you have a bunch of 200mm built in the 80s.
Of course there is Ireland, but that's a fundamentally different situation -- Ireland exists as a type of corporate welcome mat and shouldn't be categorized with "europe" when you are talking about business climate/regulations.