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Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

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Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#101
post #69

After the TX grid failure last winter, it's probably not a coincidence that Samsung's new facility will be near ERCOT's operation center in Taylor, which manages the TX grid, and will likely be the last load to shed when the grid's stressed. Used to work in the Austin fab, and the amount of money lost per minute in a power failure is mind boggling. The tax breaks Taylor offered ($314m) are not that different from wha…

This...but did Samsung quietly negotiate a "any further energy supply f*ck-ups are 100% on YOUR dime" deal with the State of Texas, or what? By several accounts, the TX grid got darn close to collapse last winter - at which point "ERCOT Op Center is next door, and we get top priority" would not get you a single erg.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#102
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about the war with china. Europe: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/tech-is-make-or-break-i... Germany: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/about-infineon/press/press-r... Korea: https://fortune.com/2021/05/13/south-korea-chip-semiconducto... Japan: https://www.aroged.com/2021/11/23/japan-has-allocated-5-2-bi... Non-OP USA: https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/09/us-chip-production-52b/ Key players are expecting an all…

> This is about the war with china. > It's all an attempt to prevent war with China. So the Chinese have UFOs and we have a war with China but we are moving chip production to all these countries you mentioned to prevent the ongoing war with China? I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt here though. I think if you were able to be a little more clear I’d at least understand what you intend to say, but I find yo…

>So the Chinese have UFOs and we have a war with China but we are moving chip production to all these countries you mentioned to prevent the ongoing war with China?

Is it China's UFOs? I don't think so.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/elon-musk-says-the-fighter-j...

Elon is 100% correct the fighter jet era is over. Did you know Elon was on Trump's tech council? https://www.engadget.com/2017-06-01-elon-musk-leaves-trump-c...

>I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt here though. I think if you were able to be a little more clear I’d at least understand what you intend to say, but I find your comments here a bit confusing.

The blow your mind factor is hard to address because of the roswell factor. I 100% don't believe those UFOs are extraterrestrials.

>Who isn’t talking about it? Assuming you’re talking about poor relations (“Cold War”) and/or loving chip production. It seems to me to be pretty common knowledge and is widely reported in global media sources and the Internet. Don’t the links you provide demonstrate that?

I guess I didn't make that clear. Obviously it's being talked about.

I guess step back for a second. The war with china is obvious. I never even talked about cyber aspect of the war, its not relevant exactly. A nuclear bomb is going to do more in the war than some BGP route stealing tech. The irony of it all, it's China's capitalist zones that are going to be robbed for 'common prosperity' at the same time that the cold war kills those zones like Evergrande situation.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#103

I worked at Samsung Austin Semiconductor for ten years as a software engineer. AMA. I very much love the people I worked with at SAS. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I'm very happy to see them expand like this. Wayne at Louie Mueller's BBQ had better add a few more pits, they're about to get a lot busier!

How do you get into chipmaking, really? Is it a Physics degree, or is it a Computer Science degree with just lots of on-the-job training?

It depends on what you want to do.

If you want to work on one of the processes in the fab (metrology, chemical vapor deposition, photolithography, etc) then an engineering degree (especially chemical engineering) may be your best bet.

If you want to design the chip architecture, then computer engineering is the degree path you want. Samsung has their own chip design subsidiary in Austin too, over on Highway 360 in west Austin, if I remember correctly, called SARC.

Austin Community College has associate degree programs designed for technicians.

I was a software engineer responsible for many of the internally-facing enterprise systems, as well as the intranet. I worked with all of these engineering departments on many different projects, so I had exposure to and visibility into many functional areas and processes of a truly global, high-tech manufacturing concern. In one of the random ways the universe has rolled the dice in my favor, one day a recruiter called me and asked, "Would you like to work for Samsung?"

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#104
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is about the war with china. > It's all an attempt to prevent war with China. So the Chinese have UFOs and we have a war with China but we are moving chip production to all these countries you mentioned to prevent the ongoing war with China? I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt here though. I think if you were able to be a little more clear I’d at least understand what you intend to say, but I find yo…

We’re moving fabs to the West to defuse a potential hostage situation where China strangles the global supply of semiconductors. The UFO releases are either about telling China that we are aware of and can track their surveillance assets, showing China our new highly advanced classified assets, or else demonstrating the superiority of our current Air Force assets. Both activities serve to dissuade the Chinese militar…

Except that 1. It’s the west (in particular the US) that is strangling the semiconductor supplies in order to hamper Chinese industry, and 2. China is completely uninterested in military aggression, as opposed to US, which just finished a war and is probably looking for another one.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#105
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about the war with china. Europe: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/tech-is-make-or-break-i... Germany: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/about-infineon/press/press-r... Korea: https://fortune.com/2021/05/13/south-korea-chip-semiconducto... Japan: https://www.aroged.com/2021/11/23/japan-has-allocated-5-2-bi... Non-OP USA: https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/09/us-chip-production-52b/ Key players are expecting an all…

The easiest (and probably the only) way to prevent a war with China is to convince the US to not start it.

>The easiest (and probably the only) way to prevent a war with China is to convince the US to not start it.

Noam Chomsky recently wrote similar to this. The military threat is really against china.

The point of a cold war is to prevent a real war. So when you hear about dick waving of the US military and allies. IT's about warning China from doing anything.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#106

I am still amazed by the shortsightedness of how these critical and strategic goods are off-shore. No wonder why the supply chains are fragile and not robust. It should be illegal for strategic goods and components such as chips and semiconductors to be produced offshore. Yes, it will raise prices in the short and medium-term, but it will make the domestic economy and manufacturing sector more robust, resilient to su…

You don't make semiconductors out of thin air. They're made out of inputs that we have to buy from other countries. The United States cannot possibly produce its own sufficient supply of rare earths and silicon for instance, they must be extracted where they occur naturally.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#107
post #2

So everyone is on the "Let's build a Fab in the USA" train, will that eventually bring down the chip production costs? (not an expert in the field, so asking naively)

No, it increases the security and continuity of our civilization when China invades Taiwan.

China has no reason to invade Taiwan, and plenty of reasons to avoid doing it. The whole thing is just another American wet dream.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#108

I worked at Samsung Austin Semiconductor for ten years as a software engineer. AMA. I very much love the people I worked with at SAS. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I'm very happy to see them expand like this. Wayne at Louie Mueller's BBQ had better add a few more pits, they're about to get a lot busier!

How do you get into chipmaking, really? Is it a Physics degree, or is it a Computer Science degree with just lots of on-the-job training?

I should add, if this is a path you're seriously considering, I will get you in touch with people at SAS, either in HR or in the engineering departments who can offer guidance. Samsung Austin Semiconductor has community engagement programs as well as career days for Austin-area high school students.

Samsung also recruits directly from Texas universities. I remember many Longhorn and Aggie engineers being hired straight from school every year. I don't know what your school situation is like, but I can also get you information about how that pipeline works.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#109
post #29
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We shouldn't stop there. America needs to make steel again. Plastics. Chemicals. We need to make electronics, fertilizers, tools. Everything we need should be onshored. Especially if we expect a cold war with our biggest producer.

The "imperialist" model can still work fine if we want to stick with it. We can keep production in poorer countries with poor worker and environmental protections so long as those countries will clearly side with us and aren't all concentrated in China's sphere of influence. No one's doing a naval blockade of the entire US coastline. And even if they did, we also have some long land borders with allies.

The problem is that US needs to find responsible governments other than the ones close to China. There are not many in the world. They are poor for some reasons.

BTW when I say responsible governments I don't mean democratic, but mean they care about people's education, can keep long term policies and build good infrastructures.

Re: Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas

#110

Ok, this article quietly gets fucking wild halfway through. >> Samsung spent years evaluating where to build the new fab, courting multiple locations and pitting them against each other for better incentives. But the ultimate decision came down to Samsung Group's leader Jay Y. Lee, who was granted early parole in August expressly to speed up crucial business decisions like the Texas chip fab. Accounting for between 1…

great find! But is it really that bizarre that someone who finds themselves thriving in an insanely high-stress and powerful position such as leader of Samsung, is involved in dishonest power games, as well as having an interest in Spiritual experiences? One can have everything available money can buy, but inward experiences can go largely unexplored.
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