Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just last week, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics was fired because the jobs numbers didn't look good and that upset the person in charge.
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"he"
US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
241–250 of 560 posts
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#242This whole economy by corruption and coercion is not going to work out.
I don't see how it can't work at least short term, when the US is by a long margin the world leading military and economic power. Why else has the US been overspending on military for decades and planting military bases and nuclear submarines all over the world, to become the world hegemony, if not to bully everyone in doing its bidding when push comes to shove? I'm not defending the actions of the US, I'm just askin…
> What can they do now, when the US holds all the cards?
Negotiate and follow through in bad faith, because there's no upside to acting in good faith when the opposing party is pursuing a lose-lose agenda.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, this is a win-win for TSMC. Intel isn't dead. They've made some bad choices and investments but they're still huge. They have $30 billion in gross profit per year on an utterly boring, non-hype based business model. Get rid of some dead weight, write off the bad investments, improve their foundry business and their value easily grows multiples of what it currently is. On top of it already being a shrewd bus…
I don't know if any of that is true. Even if it's true, why TSMC? Will Apple, AMD, and nVidia continue to trust TSMC if it owns half of Intel?
> Will Apple, AMD, and nVidia continue to trust TSMC if it owns half of Intel?
It doesn't matter because none of them have much choice. None of them own fabs and Samsung's capacity is significantly less than TSMC's. Plus Samsung also designs chips.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#244Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#245Tariffs kinda make sense when you have a deficit in a widely available item. Big trade deficit with Bangladesh? Sure you can buy cheap textiles from Thailand or Vietnam or something. Unfortunately this approach does not work when you lack a viable domestic alternative and you're up against a monopoly. What will the US do if TSMC does not blink? Not buy TSMC made chips? Obviously that is impossible, so the logical con…
What would TSMC do if they couldn't sell chips to the USA? It cuts both ways, like most trade negotiations.
Sell to the other 95% of humanity I guess.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
It has nothing to do with stupidity. Stop painting people as idiots because they exist in one of the most information hostile environments in human history. This isn't some natural state that's unrecoverable. The people you describe have been given a highly addictive media environment tailor made to engender outrage and drive behavior. It shouldn't be a shock when most people cannot resist it. The first step to chang…
> It has nothing to do with stupidity. Stop painting people as idiots because they exist in one of the most information hostile environments in human history. No. Someone refusing to spend 30 seconds understanding how a tariff works is the result of an idiot. My 10 year old figured out how they work in under 5 minutes. There’s literally no excuse for a grown ass adult to refuse to educate themselves on the subject. “…
I just googled "How do tariffs work?" I got hit with several college level vocabulary words describing tariffs in both the AI summary and my first result. It might be less of a problem, if we had adequately funded schools.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like with Ukraine? Like with Iran? The US has proven its word is literally worthless and beholden to the whims of a dictator. At this point, Taiwan would be foolish to not start working on a secret nuclear bomb program. North Korea has proven its the only way to actually protect yourself.
Yep. Nukes for Taiwan is the only solution. Nuclear proliferation and subsequent war is inevitable imo.
I'm pretty sure giving nukes to Taiwan would be seen as an act of war by China.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
So far indications are many companies are eating the tariffs, for now. Even making them visible has drawn the ire of Trump a few times already. But I generally agree that it can't go on forever / not how it works historically.
I'm actually surprised that some prices are even lower now than they've previously been. I don't think most people actually have a solid understanding of what is and is not affected by which tariffs. If I understand correctly, most of the tech stuff is effectively exempt; and Canada/Mexico tariffs don't apply to most items that are covered under "the rules of origin" certifications under USMCA (the successor to NAFTA…
I don't think companies know what is affected and when... except when the invoice comes. The tariffs have been a moving target, some announced and never occurred.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Not buy TSMC made chips? Obviously that is impossible Why do you think that? Trump clearly wants them to use Intel's 18A which is likely similar to TSMC 2 year old N3P, which is not an impossible option.
The same 18A that their CEO is axing? https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/intels-new-...
That's 14A, not 18A, and it's not being axed, but questioned in what appears to be a game of chicken.
Re: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief
#250I'm kinda of shocked that chip & many tech companies play ball.. They are a required / no alternatives industry by so much of the USA, with limited alternatives. Is it really more cost-effective for each of these companies to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to avoid tariffs when they could easily pass on these costs because we have no alternatives?
>I'm kinda of shocked that chip & many tech companies play ball.. Have you heard of this story? https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/10/qwest-ceo-nsa-punished... The only telecom in America to resist turning on a domestic eavesdropping firehose tap for the government, was pounded to the edge of bankruptcy. Intel and TSMC are both strategically important and favored-status corporations for the going concern of the Unite…
> The only telecom in America to resist turning on a domestic eavesdropping firehose tap for the government, was pounded to the edge of bankruptcy.
How so? There was no mention of the government taking action against the company to cause the company to fail. If a company is failing without government contracts, that is on them and not the government.