Re:Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%
by inglor_cz on Thursday August 19, 2021 @03:06PM
(#28237938)
Yeah, people underestimate the complexity of chip production. It is not one fab that you need to build, it is an entire ecosystem around it.
EU has lately been thinking about localizing chip production here, but they seem to be stuck in the same fallacy: we need a huge, gleaming fab on our soil. No, that is just the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately.
America does fab. However not newest nodes at high capacity. It just doesn't take building an identical factory and hiring away engineers. There is a complete supply chain of specialist companies which produce or fix the part the part that goes into a machine that that ... . Not mentioning that those construction costs are at economies of scale of building factories.
Such a thing can't be build in the US as every state needs a piece of the pie. An US run copy will be more expensive even when you ignore wages. Extra spare capacity for emergencies is not sound either.