If you read the article, no American company wanted it at the time. Wasn’t much demand for grid storage back then.
You’re barking up the wrong tree.
Such as?
Of course. The buck always stops over there somewhere.
Not at all. I don’t care who did it.
It probably doesn’t have to be a whole company, maybe just a subsidy in the gap to cover long-term national security concerns that are unprofitable now.
UniEnergy Technologies, a startup commercializing flow batteries in energy storage applications, just finished off 2015 with $25 million more in its electrolyte tanks.
In hindsight, $25 million loan or grant could’ve kept this technology in the United States and given us a head start on the Chinese. They were looking at the same information we were looking at, so it’s disappointing to lose a step to foreigners on something we made for such a cheap price.
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There are other American companies that wanted to make them. The same DoE that allowed the tech to be given to China won’t let US companies make them either.
“Forever Energy, a Bellevue, Wash., based company, is one of several U.S. companies that have been trying to get a license from the Department of Energy to make the batteries. Joanne Skievaski, Forever Energy’s chief financial officer, has been trying to get hold of a license for more than a year and called the department’s decision to allow foreign manufacturing “mind boggling.””
Best government money can buy.
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I’ll bet Texas Instruments does, too.
Do those companies and banks even want a battery that is replaced every 30 years instead of every few years? Seems I’ve heard a phrase “planned obsolescence” somewhere.
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Various reasons are cited for the changed timeline of the Taylor fab’s mass production. A key issue is the delay in the disbursement of U.S. government subsidies. The U.S. government had promised a total of US$52.7 billion in subsidies to companies building semiconductor plants locally as part of the CHIPS Act. However, reports emerged last month about a potential advance payment of up to US$4 billion in subsidies to Intel by the Biden administration, raising concerns about possible prioritization of domestic companies over Samsung Electronics in subsidy allocation and timing.
Samsung is going to slow down until they see the money.
Feels exploitive, but this country has put itself in a position to be exploited. We need domestic chip fabrication as soon as possible, so the administration needs to pay up and make Samsung happy.
Government money.
Government money.
Government money.
Givernment. Givernment. Give, give, give.
We had another thread about “big pharma”, suggesting that government should dictate patents and profits because government subsidizes them. Government strings are everywhere – strings that should not exist.
Now “big chip” sees the goldmine but fails to be concerned about the government tentacles that comes with it.
We’re broke, yet we’re spending at an ever-increasing trajectory.
If more spending in chips is needed to compensate for our regulations, either ease the regulations, or require imports to match those same regulations.
Stop with the new spending.
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We are not falling behind because of regulations. Chipmaking is an engineering megaproject so business environments with more centralized planning have an inherent advantage in making them. American money has to be spent to compete with foreign money.
If we’re broke, money needs to be saved somewhere else. Unless we bribe domestic fabs into existence, our only two choices are going to be dependence on Chinese chips or defending Taiwan.
You are dismissed.
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Although China cannot flood the global market with chips produced using cutting-edge fabrication technologies, strong government subsidies for the semiconductor sector make it possible for the country to flood the market with chips made on legacy process technologies – undercutting much-needed sales revenue that is vital for R&D at Western firms.
China is known for providing hefty funds to its chipmakers. For example, SMIC invested $24 billion in capital expenditures from 2020 to 2023 with support from banks, local governments, and state-controlled funds, far exceeding its earnings in the period, according to Nikkei. Other semiconductor companies also have generous support from the government, which is how they can quickly expand production capacity using tools that they can procure without any limitations.
In response to the Chinese price cuts, Taiwan-based UMC and PSMC reportedly had to lower their prices to remain competitive. UMC reportedly reduced its quotes for its 300-mm wafer foundry services by 10% to 15% and 200-mm wafer services by around 20%. This change took effect in the fourth quarter of 2023, indicating a direct reaction to the market pressures initiated by Chinese foundries.
China understands the strategic importance of chipmaking and they fund it like the national security issue it is. How are American companies supposed to compete with this?
Samsung is an American chip company?
I kind of agree with you. There are penalties for being stupid in the past.
Weren’t regulations a big reason for moving manufacturing overseas?
As soon as they can, they’ll do the same to American companies in the advanced chip market. This is just the snowball that turns into the avalanche eventually.
Why can’t they now? Why are American taxpayers subsidizing Korean chip manufacturing?
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From what I understand, advanced chipmaking require too many levels of trade expertise on every level. Subsidies can’t close the skill gap immediately.
That applies to both questions. We have to take our pick of the friendly Asian mega-corporations and subsidize them on American soil to import their skills.
However, we are encountering certain challenges, as there is an insufficient amount of skilled workers with the specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor grade facility."
As a stopgap, he added the corporation would send technicians from Taiwan to assist and train local hires to get the project back on track.
Then hire the people. No need to subsidize Samsung.
You’re saying that in the whole US, these people don’t exist?
Liu said construction on the shell of the factory had begun, but the Taiwanese chipmaking titan needed to review “how much incentives … the U.S. government can provide.” The company is in close contact with US officials on the matter, including a discussion of tax credits, he added.
TSMC is also considering whether to open a second facility in Japan. “The second fab in Japan is in serious evaluation stage,” and the firm is holding talks with the government, according to Liu.
The supply chain grows towards industrial policy like a tree root. It’s interesting to see how these companies openly go the bearuecrats like they’re governments themselves.
It’s also ideologically frustrating. The United States should not have to beg and bribe a Taiwanese company to expand in our business environment, considering their circumstances. But we do. And it sucks.
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