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EU countries team up for semiconductor push

reuters.com

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Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#621

Post by mmc4444 »

nixass wrote: post #427
rgblambda wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>the English language can become the lingua franca with less resistance as it is no ones language(Well, there are the Irish but it's a small country). Malta also has English as an official language, though again, it's an even smaller country. On the other hand, in neither Ireland or Malta is English the "first" official language.

While Irish/Gaelic language is a thing it's mostly ceremonial and people on the street know it poorly, with no knowledge to even superficial conversation. Irish language has no use in Ireland. Even tho it is "official", it's useless

In Northern Ireland there are small pockets of people learning it purely out of nationalist sentiment. Sinn Fein have been trying to force an Irish language act through for years which would see us become more like the south in that regard despite virtually nobody speaking it (the south, at least, has areas in the west of the country where it is actually a first language and therefore justifiable).

It's very frustrating because we do foreign languages so badly but instead of making an effort to improve our foreign language skills they're trying to push a largely dead language for purely symbolic reasons.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#622

Post by DoingIsLearning »

haspok wrote: post #602
mrtksn wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe has some successful international projects like CERN or Airbus. Besides, what are the other options? Europe is in this strange place where collectively account for enormous wealth and power but individually no country is a match to the big boys like USA/China when simultaneously are super unoptimised due to cultural/lingual differences. The younger Europeans I met were all very eager to learn English, so who k…

> The younger Europeans I met were all very eager to learn English... English IS the lingua franca in Europe, right now, at this moment, no question about it. Even the in remotest parts Generation Z and younger speak and understand a little bit, it is only the older folks who still remember the EU with borders are reluctant to speack anything else other than their own language. And there are more and more people pick…

To be fair, much of the gap with accents, is to do with exposure, in reality the majority of your media consumption in English is American English not West Midlands English.

Unfortunately the majority of native English speakers (not just from the UK) fail to realise that there is an 'international' business English which has significant differences from how they would speak 'back home'.

From the faux pas I've seen in international teams, my shortlist for the English native speakers:

1. Try to speak slowly and with diction

2. Avoid idiomatic expressions

3. Avoid phrasal verbs

4. Avoid Sarcasm (!)

Do that and 90% of miscommunication in an international setting is gone.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#623

Post by redis_mlc »

mrtksn wrote: post #330
rossdavidh wrote: post #254

So, as someone who used to be an engineer in semiconductor manufacturing facilities, this reminds me a lot of Sematech. That was a joint venture between American companies in the 90's, when there was a concern that we were falling behind Japan. I'm sure there will be people who try to claim otherwise, but my view from inside AMD (at that time still doing its own manufacturing) was that nothing much ever came out of S…

Europe has some successful international projects like CERN or Airbus. Besides, what are the other options? Europe is in this strange place where collectively account for enormous wealth and power but individually no country is a match to the big boys like USA/China when simultaneously are super unoptimised due to cultural/lingual differences. The younger Europeans I met were all very eager to learn English, so who k…

> Europe has some successful international projects like CERN or Airbus. Besides, what are the other options?

Those are vanity money pits with colossal losses.

The A380 alone lost over $50 billion.

> Europe is in this strange place where collectively account for enormous wealth and power

What century was that? Certainly not the 21st century.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#624

Post by mamon »

jason0597 wrote: post #558
mamon wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is exactly the opposite: I was eager to emigrate during Trump term in the office, despite him making it difficult. Now that Biden has won, I know that emigration should become much easier, but it also became pointless.

Why is immigration to the US pointless now that Biden won?

Because Trump was all about "business", America's prosperity.

Biden is all about things I personally don't care about, like anti-COVID measures, or fighting global warming, which will very likely destroy US economically. Emigrating to a country that's on a brink of the worst crisis in its history is indeed pointless.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#625

Post by bloak »

toyg wrote: post #590
Bayart wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>maybe as the UK is out of the EU the English language can become the lingua franca I hope I die before that ever happens.

It is already effectively thus in practical terms, sorry to disappoint you. Any time two random Europeans meet and do not speak each other’s language, the first option they’ll reach for is basic English. There are very, very few localized exceptions (some Eastern Europeans will reach for German).

That's not quite correct as stated. People usually try the local language first, if they can speak it at all. At that point they don't even know what each other's languages are. So two British people meeting for the first time in Germany may well start off by speaking German to each other. I've seen that happen a few times.

But I've also seen a German speak bad English to someone just because they looked foreign. They were foreign, but having lived in German for a while they could speak German better than they could English, and after a while they politely pointed this out. It was a bit embarrassing. It is definitely better to try the local language first.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#626

Post by mamon »

mschuetz wrote: post #581
mamon wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is exactly the opposite: I was eager to emigrate during Trump term in the office, despite him making it difficult. Now that Biden has won, I know that emigration should become much easier, but it also became pointless.

It's not because immigration became harder - they are all MScs or PhDs, some even already did internships in the US, so moving shouldn't be hard. It's because we think that the US is no longer a desirable place to move to.

It's been kind of hard for me, because my visa process was impeded by USCIS. My compay has moved people to US before, under Obama presidency, and the process was much easier back then. And you're right, US is no longer a desirable place to move to, now that Biden has won.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#627

Post by Argish »

mschuster91 wrote: post #617
piokoch wrote: post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very true. Europe is in a very difficult position now. RCEP agreement has just happened (it will take 1-2 years to ratify it by all countries), but it is a huge step towards Asia economic dominance. Next, China is sponsoring actively similar agreement for African countries. Africa is a potentially huge market and has a lot of natural resources. It seems that Europe totally drop the ball here, the only thing th…

> Europe leaders really need to wake up. Stop concentrating on immaterial issues, push for more competitive economy, lower taxes, less regulations I agree that our dear leaders have to wake up - but that is not the direction they should go at all. Our taxes are already so low that many countries have problems financing taking care of basic needs like healthcare. Less regulation? This will directly, and negatively , i…

Europe is resource hungry when it comes so social spending. Budgets are huge, and a lot of money is being spent. Some of that money is not even ours, it's just other people buying our debt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_we...

I do question myself sometimes how much longer this can be maintained. Our world is changing fast, and it's not like Europe is losing the game, it's that we are not even playing it.

We will eventually need to do something about it. What exactly needs to be done is definitely debatable.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#628

Post by allendoerfer »

piokoch wrote: post #604
mrtksn wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe has some successful international projects like CERN or Airbus. Besides, what are the other options? Europe is in this strange place where collectively account for enormous wealth and power but individually no country is a match to the big boys like USA/China when simultaneously are super unoptimised due to cultural/lingual differences. The younger Europeans I met were all very eager to learn English, so who k…

That's very true. Europe is in a very difficult position now. RCEP agreement has just happened (it will take 1-2 years to ratify it by all countries), but it is a huge step towards Asia economic dominance. Next, China is sponsoring actively similar agreement for African countries. Africa is a potentially huge market and has a lot of natural resources. It seems that Europe totally drop the ball here, the only thing th…

Europe is fine. Europe will be to the world, what Switzerland is to Europe.

I agree with you, that it has to focus more on innovation. Regarding quality of life for the average person I would take the stability of a Northern European country over the US or China at any time.

Examples for things Europe is also missing: Opressive governments, gang shootings, school shootings, people without healthcare, social scoring systems, polluted rivers, forced labour camps, denying of facts like evolution or climate change.

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#629

Post by jason0597 »

mamon wrote: post #624
jason0597 wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is immigration to the US pointless now that Biden won?

Because Trump was all about "business", America's prosperity. Biden is all about things I personally don't care about, like anti-COVID measures, or fighting global warming, which will very likely destroy US economically. Emigrating to a country that's on a brink of the worst crisis in its history is indeed pointless.

Why do you not care about anti-COVID measures or fighting global warming? Those are serious issues that need to be addressed, no?

Re: EU countries team up for semiconductor push

#630

Post by adrian_b »

mongol wrote: post #479
adrian_b wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In semiconductors Sweden was never more important than between 6th to 15th position in Europe. The only well-known company that might have made semiconductors was ASEA, which might have made some thyristors before disappearing 33 years ago, after the fusion with Brown Boveri. Now ABB has the headquarters in Switzerland. It has various sites in Sweden, but so have some US companies, without any of them being considere…

The fusion with Brown Boveri was like you say a fusion, not an acquisition. The HQ needs to be somewhere, but ABB is apart from that about as much Swedish as Swiss. Asea was one of the companies within the influence of the Wallenberg family and their company Investor were as of 2015 the largest individual shareholder of ABB.

You are right. I agree that it is correct to view ABB as half Swedish.

I was exaggerating a bit, as a counterbalance to the weird statement to which I was replying.

Nevertheless, while ABB is a great company, its importance as a semiconductor manufacturer is minimal. ABB sells electronic equipment, which is made with components made elsewhere, except for some high-power thyristors that are made by themselves.

Thyristors are the easiest to make among semiconductor devices that are still used. The only really difficult part to make are the high-quality silicon wafers from which they are made, but ABB does not make the wafers. Most likely they purchase the wafers from Japan, or maybe from Germany.

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