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Technology

Spain Plans To Invest $12.4 Billion in Chips, Semiconductors (bloomberg.com) 29

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
Spain plans to invest 11 billion euros ($12.4 billion) to develop microchips and semiconductors in a bid to modernize its tourism-dependent economy. From a report: "We want our country to be at the vanguard of industrial and technological progress," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday in Madrid, without giving more details. He said the project will be approved soon by his cabinet. The investment is the latest effort to rebuild the economy, which suffered more than most European peers from the pandemic and is under pressure again following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sanchez said the war has disrupted supplies of gases such as argon and neon that are key for making semiconductors.
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Spain Plans To Invest $12.4 Billion in Chips, Semiconductors More

Spain Plans To Invest $12.4 Billion in Chips, Semiconductors

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  • Current events for the past few years, has shown that semiconductors are a vital part of a nations economy, and we cannot trust trade and supply chains to keep it solid. So basically every nation is like, we need our own semiconductor infrastructure, which is fine... However when they plan they investment and budgets they will need to realize they will not end up being like the big exporter of semiconductors that we have now, and will end up just selling to a more local group of customers, as all the other

    • Whatever it takes to end the current semiconductor scarcity.

    • Re:If everyone is doing it then it isn't as valuab (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday April 04, 2022 @12:28PM (#62416272)

      we cannot trust trade and supply chains

      So we should trust politicians and bureaucrats instead?

      Prediction: This fab will be sited, built, and run primarily by political rather than financial considerations. It will soon be yet another example of lemon socialism [wikipedia.org].

      they will not end up being like the big exporter of semiconductors that we have now, and will end up just selling to a more local group of customers, as all the other nations will have their own.

      Not true. Making computer chips is not like making tortilla chips. Once the masks are made, it makes far more sense to run all the production in a single fab that has the correct step size and wafer size. So fabs will specialize, countries will still need to import, and building taxpayer-subsidized plants will not lead to self-sufficiency.

      • Not to mention that all chips are worthless unless they can be assembled, packaged and tested--a low-margin business that nobody really wants. Currently the world's assembly, packaging and testing industry is all concentrated in Malaysia, so all these "domestic" fabs provide much less logistical security than people are being led to think, and nobody is talking about that.

      • The biggest problem is that not everyone can be the latest and greatest in semiconductor. Yet, people/economics prefer the best one. In other words, if you have a semiconductor plant unless it is the the best in the world or you ban imports of the best one it risks being a colossal waste of money. When all the benchmarks say your chip is inferior even though it costs more than a foreign chip .. would your consumers choose it? Having your own semiconductor plant and duplicate supply chain is only useful duri

      • Why do you think if one thing is bad, the opposite has to be good? Capitalism alone is too chaotic in a civilized world, Politicians are often focused on winning party elections than actually helping its citizens. However Chaos often brings innovation, and self interest in maintaining party often means one will need to help its citizens otherwise they loose everything.

        When cooking we use Sugar and Salt, those flavors are in conflict with each other. However you can elevate something very sweet with some

    • Why don't countries like this start producing oil and gas? You can't go wrong with that stuff, it's such a simple solution I don't know why politicians don't think of it more often.

  • 11 billion euros worth of chips? We're gonna need a bigger bowl of guacamole.

  • The Vanguard (Score:3)

    by Petersko ( 564140 ) on Monday April 04, 2022 @12:05PM (#62416170)

    Lofty goal. I applaud them for thinking big. However, I think the best trophy they can reasonably attain in the foreseeable future would be "participant". Not that there's anything wrong with that. The more participants there are, the better!

    But unless I'm misreading the world, there are some countries that possess the will, the cash, and the single-minded vision needed to be at the vanguard... and Spain isn't one of them.

  • If you build it, sorry they still won't come. Nice buildings. Who do you expect to do the engineering inside them?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      I do know several engineers who moved to Spain. It is a very present place to work. We think that the US is a welcoming place, but from what I read here it is no longer the case. I worked with Muslims and Asians in my lab, it it seems kids nowadays think they are all spies and terrorist. In my days, these Muslims got their graduate degree in fence nd then came to the US. Now I can imgkne them going to Spain instead.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I'm thinking, maybe Spain should built their fab park next to nowhere airport (Ciudad Real Central Airport). Either neither will go anywhere, or the chips will at least have a decent cargo connection to the rest of the world and that airport will have a purpose at last.

        As to muslims, Spain used to be run by them [wikipedia.org], until they got sick of it. The modern-day problem with muslims is their ideology, compelling them to want islamic law (sharia), fatwas and death sentences, rather than the benefits of enlightenmen

        • " If they, as a group, could learn that trick of condemning bad deeds regardless of the victim's creed, that would be good."

          I wish all "groups" would learn this wisdom. But seriously, your post is comical stereotypification.

  • Spain Plans To Invest $12.4 Billion in Chips, Semiconductors

    What kind of chips are we talking about, anyway: potato chips, tortilla chips, Fritos? What are the gastronomic pleasures doing in the same headline as 'semiconductors'?

    Oh, wait, you meant semiconductor chips? Then the summary sentence is redundant.

  • Here is an article that casts doubt on whether Spain (or Europe) is the right place for chip manufacture ...

    Has Europe's chip plan arrived too late? [bbc.com].

  • I live inSpain and work in the microelectronic sector. This guy has no idea what it takes to build a semiconductor industry. Starting with the univesrsities he routinely discredits publicly. Who does he think that run semicoductor factories the same kind of workes that collect strawberries?

    • Correct. At this point, it is not even clear that the US has the ability to build a semiconductor industry in the US.

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