Globalization and borderless free trade are the current narrative. Unfortunately, they do not work - every time they have been tried, everyone (except for a select few) wind up poorer for the experience. Hmmm... The head of the world's largest chip maker has a few thoughts on the subject - from The Register:
TSMC founder says 'globalization is almost dead' as Asian foundry giant expands in US
Caught in the middle of an escalating trade war between the US and China, the founder of Taiwanese contract chip-making giant TSMC has stated that globalization and free trade are "almost dead" as his company expands in the US for the first time in over 20 years.
Morris Chang reportedly made the comments at Tuesday's ceremony for TSMC's advanced chip manufacturing site in Arizona, where the company plans to spend roughly $40 billion to open a 4nm fab in 2024 and a more sophisticated 3nm plant in 2026. The company said the Arizona fab plan represents "one of the largest foreign direct investments in the history of the United States."
"Twenty-seven years have passed and [the semiconductor industry] witnessed a big change in the world, a big geopolitical situation change in the world. Globalization is almost dead and free trade is almost dead. A lot of people still wish they would come back, but I don't think they will be back," said Chang, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei and other news reports.
It's one of the blunter statements offered in the semiconductor industry lately. For it to come from the founder of the world's most advanced, and second-largest, chip manufacturer, which makes silicon designed by major Western firms like Qualcomm and Nvidia, is a sober reflection on the industry's state of affairs as US chip sanctions against China create a bifurcation of supply chains.
Another idea out of the universities that failed in the real world.
When will we learn to stop listening to these credentialed idiots.
Reminds me of Vox Day's old aphorism:
In academia there is no difference between academia and the real world; in the real world there is
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