Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking • Hacker News Board

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#131

Post by zucker42 » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:17 PM UTC

atlantas wrote: post #10

90%! Did we really let ourselves become so reliant on Ukraine and Taiwan for computer chips? Taiwan being the next country most under threat. In fact, Reuters just reported that "Taiwan warns Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone" https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-reports-ni...

The nature of globalism is that there's many steps in the supply change that are dependent on one or two countries. Semiconductors are also dependent on the Netherlands (ASML) for example.

Also violations of the air defense zone, though not meaningless, are not super important. The air defense zone covers a part of mainland China larger than Taiwan, as well as waters that might at least be considered international waters. News articles about that are pretty pointless.

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#132

Post by baq » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:18 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #48

I'm more concerned about Ukraine's wheat exports, personally. Likely to become a critical issue much more quickly than neon gas.

and corn. ZC=F today was crazy.

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#133

Post by amelius » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:19 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #46

Russia's actions make me nervous that China will be emboldened to do the same for Taiwan

Yes this is scary. Chinese defense budget is considerable at 1/3 of US budget.

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#134

Post by swagasaurus-rex » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:20 PM UTC

allisdust wrote: post #71

livinglist wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as a Chinese raised in China myself, this happens pretty regularly since years ago. I don’t think Winnie the Pooh has big balls to attack Taiwan in recent future. China has too much to lose right now.

Has China ever sent their army into another country post their independence ?

Vietnam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War

Tibet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Tibet_by_the_Peo...

North Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#135

Post by echelon » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:21 PM UTC

mym1990 wrote: post #37

roughly wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we saved some money by shuttering all our factories and outsourcing everything, so, who's to say what the right answer was. (/s)

"We saved some money" is how economics works in price competitive markets. This is a result of many players doing what keeps each one competitive, but without collaborating on what the large scale effects are down the road.

> "We saved some money" is how economics works in price competitive markets.

It's also a great optimization criteria to use to position yourself for checkmate.

Monopolies, countries...

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#136

Post by segfaultbuserr » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:23 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #43

CountSessine wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they'll be watching what happens in Ukraine very carefully. Then they'll be calibrating their predictions about what would happen if they invaded Taiwan with Russia's experience in Ukraine.

I doubt the TSMC fabs would survive a PLA invasion of Taiwan. If nothing else, the CIA would probably blow them up during the attack.

It's worth pointing out that even physical destruction may be unnecessary. Due to the complexity of the semiconductor supply chain, many say that an embargo of materials and the removal of experts are enough to paralyze the fabs for many years to come...

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#137

Post by monkeywork » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:24 PM UTC

agilob wrote: post #24

Rebelgecko wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't that happen on more or less a weekly basis?

Yes, why does it still happen on a weekly basis?

Because their airspace extends over mainland china...

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#138

Post by amelius » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:24 PM UTC

EU and US response to Russia is totally ineffective. They should have moved troops in from the beginning.

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#139

Post by londons_explore » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:25 PM UTC

Neon is a byproduct of producing liquid nitrogen, oxygen and other gas products.

Many other plants could start producing neon pretty easily. They just haven't so far because neon isn't profitable to produce and sell. But with a relatively-large but globally-insignificant price increase it would be.

Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking

#140

Post by londons_explore » Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 7:28 PM UTC

Borrible wrote: post #44

I'm more concerned about the probable loss of wheat supplies to the near east, especially Turkey and Egypt. But of course,they could just eat Revani or Basbousa instead.

Wheat is pretty easy to ship, and globally is usually 'overproduced' due to farm subsidies. People won't be going hungry just because one countries production stopped.