Live data from Hacker News

Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

nytimes.com

101–110 of 657 posts

Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

#103

I understand why Intel is getting these, but would be nice to see this money go to companies that are still innovating and are somewhere in the US coalition/orbit (TSMC, Samsung, etc.)

Both TSMC and Samsung are expanding in the USA and are expected to receive significant subsidies as well

Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

#104
post #68

I feel sorry for any startups looking to innovate in this space. It's hard enough competing against established players without them getting billions in free money. Intel has had the resources to build out fabs in the US for decades. Instead, they've chosen to build elsewhere, and now they're rewarded for it? They recently announced their $20b facility in Ohio is being "put on hold": https://www.tweaktown.com/news/96…

It's called payoffs. Not much we can do when the system is corrupt.

I don't think we'll ever have a perfect system, unfortunately. Just makes it that much harder for startups.

Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

#105
post #68

I feel sorry for any startups looking to innovate in this space. It's hard enough competing against established players without them getting billions in free money. Intel has had the resources to build out fabs in the US for decades. Instead, they've chosen to build elsewhere, and now they're rewarded for it? They recently announced their $20b facility in Ohio is being "put on hold": https://www.tweaktown.com/news/96…

This isn't really a startup kinda business. It costs something like $10b to build a new fab.

Any industry wouldn't be "really a startup kinda business" if only a few players are pumped more than everyone else combined by orders of magnitude. Having to scale to everyone's demand is a lot more costly than if the market was fragmented.

Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

#106
Wouldn't GlobalFoundries (HQ in New York and supposedly on the "Trusted Foundry" list) have made more sense, since they fabricate chips for multiple different companies, where as Intel only makes them for Intel?

Boosts a competitor, opens up fab capacity for all and moves the needle on the intentions behind the CHIPS act, all at once.

Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

#107
post #79

Right now one of the biggest blockers in on-shoring semiconductor fab at any kind of reasonable price-point and timescale is the lack of a skilled workforce. This legislation has dual objectives: train new people to get into sophisticated manufacturing AND to build out the actual infrastructure itself. That almost guarantees it won't be the most efficient way to actually get these chips on American soil. Whether we l…

This is a re-shoring of strategic capabilities not a labor move. The labor will most likely be imported as it doesn’t really exist in the US at the scale needed with an eventual eye towards more domestic labor. Expect large numbers of imported skilled labor in the short term.

The text of the bill [^1] disagrees with this:

> In awarding financial assistance for planning or establishing a Manufacturing USA Institute, an agency shall give special consideration to such institutes that

> contribute to the geographic diversity of the Manufacturing USA program,

> are located in an area with a low per capita income,

> are located in an area with a high proportion of socially disadvantaged residents, or

> are located in small and rural communities.

It seems very much to be both.

[^1]: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4346

Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants

#108
post #79

Right now one of the biggest blockers in on-shoring semiconductor fab at any kind of reasonable price-point and timescale is the lack of a skilled workforce. This legislation has dual objectives: train new people to get into sophisticated manufacturing AND to build out the actual infrastructure itself. That almost guarantees it won't be the most efficient way to actually get these chips on American soil. Whether we l…

I imagine we’d have that skilled workforce if companies paid enough.

I’m a former construction contractor who reinvented myself as a software developer.

Each time I run into one of my former peers in the construction industry I hear the same complaints from them. “We can’t hire any good help.” Yet they are still paying the same non living wages that they have for 30 years.

Post reply on HN