Re:Intel's $20B Ohio factory could become world's largest ch...
by nebula8804 on Friday January 21, 2022 @04:22PM
(#30030172)
I know there are PCB manufacturers somewhere in the US. I don't know about packaging. Do you know which firms do packaging of the dies and why can't the US do it(It can't just be cost)? How hard can it be really? Its essentially plastic , maybe some metal, and gold isn't it? Maybe an argument could be made to locate at least one source of manufacturing for all these steps in a local area. But thats just the programmer in me wanting to optimize without understanding the realities of manufacturing costs.
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Re:Intel's $20B Ohio factory could become world's largest ch...
by 55873445216111 on Friday January 21, 2022 @05:12PM
(#30030633)
It's all about cost. The assembly and test is the "low tech" part of semiconductor manufacturing and can be done well in Asia by workforces that are not as highly educated as those you need to run a fab. US and western economies have always focused on doing the highest value add portions of manufacturing domestically (where the highly educated workforce is key) while outsourcing the lower value add (lower margin) portions of the supply chain.
Consumers demand low cost. Many times they just buy the cheaper widget, because most people are not even capable of distinguishing the differences in performance or quality between two different widgets. But the difference in price is obvious to everyone and so most people just use that. The pressure of reducing every single penny out of the cost or semiconductors is enormous.
Top 10 OSAT (outsourced assembly and test) companies: https://evertiq.com/news/51003