Taiwan Quake Puts World's Most Advanced Chips at Risk (msn.com) 99
Taiwan's biggest earthquake in 25 years has disrupted production at the island's semiconductor companies, raising the possibility of fallout for the technology industry and perhaps the global economy. From a report: The potential repercussions are significant because of the critical role Taiwan plays in the manufacture of advanced chips, the foundation of technologies from artificial intelligence and smartphones to electric vehicles.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake led to the collapse of at least 26 buildings, four deaths and the injury of 57 people across Taiwan, with much of the fallout still unknown. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest maker of advanced chips for customers like Apple and Nvidia, halted some chipmaking machinery and evacuated staff. Local rival United Microelectronics also stopped machinery at some plants and evacuated certain facilities at its hubs of Hsinchu and Tainan.
Taiwan is the leading producer of the most advanced semiconductors in the world, including the processors at the heart of the latest iPhones and the Nvidia graphics chips that train AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT. TSMC has become the tech linchpin because it's the most advanced in producing complex chips. Taiwan is the source of an estimated 80% to 90% of the highest-end chips -- there is effectively no substitute. Jan-Peter Kleinhans, director of the technology and geopolitics project at Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, has called Taiwan "potentially the most critical single point of failure" in the semiconductor industry.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake led to the collapse of at least 26 buildings, four deaths and the injury of 57 people across Taiwan, with much of the fallout still unknown. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest maker of advanced chips for customers like Apple and Nvidia, halted some chipmaking machinery and evacuated staff. Local rival United Microelectronics also stopped machinery at some plants and evacuated certain facilities at its hubs of Hsinchu and Tainan.
Taiwan is the leading producer of the most advanced semiconductors in the world, including the processors at the heart of the latest iPhones and the Nvidia graphics chips that train AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT. TSMC has become the tech linchpin because it's the most advanced in producing complex chips. Taiwan is the source of an estimated 80% to 90% of the highest-end chips -- there is effectively no substitute. Jan-Peter Kleinhans, director of the technology and geopolitics project at Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, has called Taiwan "potentially the most critical single point of failure" in the semiconductor industry.
geolocation redundancy (Score:2, Redundant)
raising the possibility of fallout for the technology industry and perhaps the global economy.
I don't know but I do some very small scale hosting and I have presence in multiple datacenters in multiple continents. Wouldn't be doing the same with chip production be a good idea?
Re:geolocation redundancy (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
It makes sense for TSMC to build fabs in Arizona and Germany.
But it makes little sense for Taiwan to encourage that. The more distributed chip production is, the easier it will be for the West to abandon Taiwan in a confrontation with China.
Re: (Score:1)
It makes sense for TSMC to build fabs in Arizona and Germany.
But it makes little sense for Taiwan to encourage that. The more distributed chip production is, the easier it will be for the West to abandon Taiwan in a confrontation with China.
Aside from the geopolitical ramifications, building fabs outside of Taiwan hurts TSMC's profit margins. Wafer production may happen in fabs outside of Taiwan, but much of the supply chain and post-wafer processing won't be built up around those fabs for a long time, maybe never. And most of the board manufacturing and assembly is still in Asia, so transport costs will increase. And that doesn't even consider the significantly higher labor costs in the West. TSMC is taking a short-term financial incentiv
Re: (Score:2)
The trouble with the US plant(s), is they are taking part in the Biden chips act....but, that federal money is so ham strung with DEI requirements, union requirements, and preferences only to minority and women owned businesses ...that it makes almost anywhere else in the world a better place to invest and operate this type business than the US.
Wouldn't it make sense to have the most qualified companies/people competing for and doing this work,
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't it make sense to have the most qualified companies/people competing for and doing this work?
Economically, yes.
But the argument for distributed production isn't about economics.
It is about national security.
Re: (Score:2)
In such a case as this, isn't expedience a part of national/military security?
Admittedly, pork is probably a concern as well... but the question remains, do we have time for pork to be a blocker rather than an addon?
Re: (Score:1)
I think that's why we are seeing so many countries, including the US, invest heavily in building their own infrastructure and expertise and giving incentives to firms including TSMC and Intel to expand their bases to more geographies.
Earthquakes don't matter that much. This is a once in 25 year earthquake, and it will be just a blip in chip production. The buildings on the east coast of Taiwan were old countryside buildings. The TSMC fabs were built with earthquakes in mind, and earthquakes are already factored into fabs operational procedures. The one thing that matters is the threat of a Chinese military invasion. A complete destruction of most TSMC fabs would result in Apple, Nvidia, and AMD coming close to disappearing overnigh
Re: geolocation redundancy (Score:2)
We already saw how the auto industry essentially got shit down overnight due to chip shortages as well. So the wider impact is probably really hard to guess.
Re: (Score:2)
How many of those chips needed in the cars were sub 14nm?
Probably most were 28nm and up.
Yes, some of those 14nm chips are needed for things like self-driving cars... but last gen ARM SOCs like the RK3399 [or the less performant S905X] are all 28nm, and those can run [if they're not overkill] edutainment and GPS/nav.
Re: (Score:2)
How many of those chips needed in the cars were sub 14nm?
You can ask UMC, and Nanya (to name just two) about those Over 14nm chips for autos, the produce many. You can also ask ASE groups how many of those automotive chips they package, either manufactured in Taiwan, or elsewhere.
Re: (Score:2)
The point I was trying to make is that the various EU & US projects to get TSMC, Samsung & Intel to build new fabs in their respective territories are for sub 14nm process nodes.
Yet the "chip shortage" in 2021, as it affected large industrial suppliers like car manufacturers, was generally 65nm and up. Cheap chips... not having the kind of profit margins to justify buying new equipment and building a new fab.
So we're not likely to add more geographic redundancy in these segments.
Re: geolocation redundancy (Score:2)
How much does your VM cost?
How much does a TSMC fab plant cost?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Not really -- especially for something where you need (or benefit from) a lot of expertise in one place, it's an effective use of resources to concentrate in one geographical location. We see this with everything from chocolate to finance to aerospace. You can try to spread things out artificially, but whichever location starts doing better will create a positive feedback loop, drawing in more talent and eventually playing an outsized role.
Re: (Score:3)
It seems time for the technology to focus on reducing the the fundamental cost and complexity rather than just trying to brute-force them with scale and integration. These things have definitely not gotten simpler
Re: (Score:2)
it's an effective use of resources to concentrate in one geographical location. We see this with everything from chocolate to finance to aerospace.
Yeah, about that chocolate... https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/co... [bnnbloomberg.ca]
Re:geolocation redundancy (Score:5, Interesting)
Faster, cheaper, better. Pick two.
Let's assume a chipmaking company deployed fabs to diverse locations, and kept the tech updated in all of them. YAY, you got your redundancy, but they'll have to put out more infrastructure and investment and risk and it'll all cost more.
Then a competitor comes along and does just one big FAB in the cheapest location. They'll undercut the other business in every way except that a disaster could end their business, but hardly anyone buying chips is going to care. Those diverse FAB's will lose business and not be sustainable.
All this has already happened, more or less. Countries and country sized businesses keep getting involved in various ways, but we're talking about things that must be made at scale to be feasible.
Technologies saving grace in this, IMO, should be that we can reproduce that elsewhere if/when needed and, if that whole facility is lost, we won't lose the knowledge to rebuild it. It's not viable to build a spare now, and technology doesn't mean it would make sense to do so, but we should have the info and data and planning in place.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it was always dumb and reckless to over-specialize chipmaking regionally.
Only from your viewpoint. Not from the viewpoint of the people making the decision.
TSMC benefits from concentrated expertise in Taiwan, which is hard for competitors to steal.
Taiwan benefits from the concentration because it incentivizes the rest of the world to care about Taiwan's security.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: geolocation redundancy (Score:2)
Seems to work for the U.S. and Silicon Valley.
Re: (Score:2)
Swiss wrist watches were the best, but the delicate mechanisms were slow and difficult to make. Now a wrist watch is trivial technology. So should chips be.
Re: (Score:1)
That chip foundry to be built in nice, near-seismically-inert Ohio is looking better all the time. Ohio's biggest threat is tornadoes, but strong buildings are a good defense.
Re: (Score:1)
I'm from there. Can only remember one. It was like someone dropped something heavy in the next room. "near" seismically inert, where "near" means "almost."
Re: (Score:2)
raising the possibility of fallout for the technology industry and perhaps the global economy.
I don't know but I do some very small scale hosting and I have presence in multiple datacenters in multiple continents. Wouldn't be doing the same with chip production be a good idea?
You are 100% correct. PRoblem is that doing geographical redundancy with datacenters is oreder of magnitude more difficult to do with chip manufacturing than it is to do with datacenters.
The knowledge needed to do chips with good yields is highly specialized, and highly specific to each manufacturer, so, due to lack of specialized workers is easier for Foundries to expand existing fabs, or keep fabs in the same country, than it is for them to put fabs everyhere.
Re: (Score:2)
Their earthquake-proofing mitigations are insane. Also a cool selling point for us.
Re: geolocation redundancy (Score:2)
But your product is impacted when there's a 5 second outage. That's not the case here.
What's more cost effective? Building a second fabrication site; only the second one in the world that has ever existed? Or letting warehouses spend a bit more on shelving to keep a bigger backlog of stock?
Much different calculation here.
Economically, these companies probably made the right choice. The hit to their bottom line isn't enough to offset the capital costs of building a new fab city.
The bigger issue is the potent
competency and lack thereof (Score:2)
Production requires people, competence, infrastructure and preconditions from the political, social and economic environment. High-tech production is not feasible anymore outside of East Asia. Your guess about the "why" is as good as mine, but it is not, otherwise companies would have done that. But they aren't.
And you see the lower levels of tech currently collapsing in the West, too, if you look at Boeing in the US and high-speed rail projects in the EU. We cannot do this anymore.
If you want to get a feel
Re: (Score:2)
Eloquent!
I smell (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I smell use of tectonic weapons by China....
It was just your mother falling out of bed.
Re: I smell (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: I smell (Score:2)
Sick fat-lesbian-mom burn, bro.
Re: I smell (Score:1)
Americans China is stupid.
Also Americans: China have secret weapons capable of manipulating the literal entire planet.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: I smell (Score:2)
Q.v., Taiwan, to see what a smart China might have looked like. It's not all that of a stretch to say China has some issues with decision making.
Was One-Child stupid? Absolutely. Was it stupid to enact capital controls creating a real estate bubble? For sure. Is it continuing stupidity to try to address internal chaos by cozying up to Russia? Very likely.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: I smell (Score:2)
East coast though... not so scary (Score:5, Informative)
While the earthquake is clearly powerful and devastating and I hope that there is only limited loss of life, nearly all if not entirely all of the chip fabs are on the west (Hsinchu) and south (Tainan) areas which are distant from the epicenter. Of course the equipment is very sensitive so it makes sense to be cautious but this particular earthquake may not have much impact on the semi industry.
Re:East coast though... not so scary (Score:4, Interesting)
While the earthquake is clearly powerful and devastating and I hope that there is only limited loss of life, nearly all if not entirely all of the chip fabs are on the west (Hsinchu) and south (Tainan) areas which are distant from the epicenter. Of course the equipment is very sensitive so it makes sense to be cautious but this particular earthquake may not have much impact on the semi industry.
As for loss of life, last time I checked it was only 1 death (probably more by now), so, thanks the lord in the hights tha the mortality was low.
As you aslo said, the equipment is very sensitive, but I think you are underestimatingt the disruption. You see, the engineers at TSMC, UMC and Nanya (to name three), will have to completely purge all production lines, then recalibrate the equipment, and then re-start production, causing a disruption (a bubble + delays) in the supply chain...
But guess what?
If you are an engineer (or an Egineress) charged with recalibrating the epuipment and re-starting production, and you were hurt because a piece of concrete fell on your back during the eartquake, you will be out of commision for a long while, and even if you are 100% Ok, if your parents, offspring or SO were hurt, you will be taking care of them, and also unavailable for a while... or, if they "force" youto be there, your mind will not be 100% there...
So, fabs face a shortage of workers in the aftermath of the quacke, precisely when they need them more....
Re: (Score:3)
Let's not make up fake words to feed the SJWs, "Engineer" has no gender.
Re: (Score:2)
>Egineress
Let's not make up fake words to feed the SJWs, "Engineer" has no gender.
English is not my first language. Yo hablo español. Un ingeniero, una ingeniera. I mistranslated. Sorry if I hut your feelings.
Re: (Score:2)
The SJWs prefer the genderless versions, e.g. they prefer to use actor for women, rather than actress.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe (Score:5, Funny)
We should make chips in the U.S.?
Then again, an American might find a job and we can't have any of that.
Re:Maybe (Score:4, Insightful)
We should make chips in the U.S.?
Then again, an American might find a job and we can't have any of that.
Then again, an American might find a job that allows for buying a house and creating generational wealth while shaving a few points off shareholder returns and we can't have any of that. FTFY.
Re: (Score:2)
Texas or the upper Midwest would be the safest places: https://www.usgs.gov/news/nati... [usgs.gov]
Or in Queensland: https://www.community-safety.g... [ga.gov.au]
Re: (Score:3)
Different places have different disasters, but just about everywhere has something or other. Texas has Hurricane driven flooding and tornadoes (though I think in different parts). Also, they've extracted a bunch of oil, so they can EXPECT increased earthquakes and land subsidence. (Those things typically take time to manifest, though, and the earthquakes aren't typically as large.)
Texas is also short on water, which semiconductor plants need. The plant will probably be willing to pay more than some oth
Re: (Score:2)
TSMC is building a new plant in Japan, which has earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, dust storms, landslides, nuclear meltdowns... And has a lot of them quite regularly.
Apparently being disaster-prone is not an issue. The fact that it is a 3 hour flight from Taiwan and has a favourable economy/immigration policy probably has more to do with it.
Re: (Score:2)
You forgot regular monster-related incidents [imdb.com].
Apparently.
Re: (Score:2)
Then again, an American might get a decent pay for a job and we can't have any of that.
There, fixed that for you.
"Silicon Shield" prevents operational redundancy (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Taiwan happens to be right smack in the middle of the Pacific Ring of Fire [wikipedia.org] and is also in the same region where many of the world's most powerful typhoons [wikipedia.org] occur. A powerful earthquake, tsunami, super typhoon, or the invasion of a vengeful neighbor (which keeps calling Taiwan a "rogue province") might well be what causes the next global economic catastrophe.
Re: (Score:1)
I don't understand how that makes sense. Taiwan's semi industry is the main reason China wants to invade at all. They want that economic power and control over the rest of the world (and knowledge).
Same reason Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990.
It's also another big reason for other countries to (re)build their own semi industries, to make Taiwan less of a target. Taiwan doesn't like that, but that seems like a foolish gambit when China starts lobbing artillery over the Taiwan Strait until they submit.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a textbook prisoner's dilemma. Taiwan's unique position as pretty much the world's sole chip factory puts a big target on it's back for both the enemies who want to take advantage of that power, or the "friends" who want to make sure the enemy doesn't get that power.
If every country has it's own backyards chip factory, would it really be worth against china to defend taiwan when an eventual chinese attack happened?
We don't have that good of a record of helping allies in a war they're meant to lose, lik
Re: (Score:2)
You sounded all reasonable till the end. Ukraine is not "meant to lose" the war. If we don't get serious about giving it what it needs, artillery, it will lose. Then we'll be facing WWIII.
As for Taiwan, China would have little reason to invade it without it's semiconductor industry. That others might defend it in that war is poor consolation.
Re: (Score:2)
Nationalism would be a good enough reason to invade Taiwan were it not (reasonably) strongly defended. And Ukraine was a part of the USSR without causing WWIII. So I don't find your arguments convincing.
Also " In 1885, the Qing empire designated Taiwan as Chinaâ(TM)s 22nd province. ", so calling it a "breakaway province" isn't unreasonable, and a Chinese nationalist could be expected to hold that position without respect to economic or strategic considerations.
Re: (Score:2)
Ukraine was annexed by force into Russia, then regained its independence. Be accurate.
Russia's intentions are to continue to invade westward. Once Ukraine falls, they'll continue the push.
I don't really care about China's internal terminology toward Taiwan. And Taiwan was never ruled by the CCP, which has no legitimacy even in China itself.
Re: (Score:2)
Scotland was annexed by force. So was Alsace-Lorraine (multiple times). Then there's Ireland. Nationalists in different countries have different ideas about what the "natural and correct" boundaries are. (And what about Texas and California? Those "revolutions" weren't from the people whose ancestors lived there.)
There's LOTS of other examples. If you say, you think Ukraine has a right to independence. OK. Lots of people agree with that. But lots of Russian nationalists don't. Look up the long and
Re: (Score:2)
Scotland and Ireland both (currently) have a mutually agreed upon political agreement with England. But you're missing my point entirely.
Ukraine (Score:2)
" If we don't get serious about giving it what it needs, artillery, it will lose"
They have the artillery, what they need is the ammunition
(shells for the howitzers, rockets for the HIMARS and MLRS)
and missiles...
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, sorry, that's what I mean. Despite the sanctions, which have had little real effect on their ability to fight the war, Russia has a huge advantage in artillery. And until that's fixed, Ukraine will not be able to advance. Question is, is it too late?
Sadly, Biden has slow-as-fuck walked every single thing Ukraine has needed. He's very weak, which is why Russia waited for him to take office.
Ukraine is not losing (Score:2)
Ukraine is doing relatively OK for the circumstances, thank you. The Russian invasion is for sure not driven back yet, but they are certainly not losing either. And they have decimated the Russian military capabilities to a great extent - alas to a high cost. What happens now depends on our support. Stopping smuggling of military-useful equipment to Russia and placing much greater restrictions on any company or nation that facilitates the Russian invasion would also be quite useful.
Re: (Score:2)
China cannot "take" Taiwan.
Taiwan has the type of artillery emplacements that Switzerland used to have: big guns in bunkers built into the bedrock. Switzerland abandoned them because modern missiles can penetrate deep enough to destroy them. In taiwan, they still rely on them. Any strike capable of destroying them would leave little of Taiwan left to capture.
The artillery (and missile) batteries are capable of shooting up to ~200 miles across a ~100 mile straight. That means anything up to 100 miles inl
Re: (Score:2)
Taiwan can just barely penetrate China. But China can easily penetrate Taiwan, all of it, with artillery, and it has the industrial capacity to easily keep that up forever.
So, China can shell Taiwan until it capitulates. And it will, in weeks.
The big bluff here is that the U.S. would fight for Taiwan, since to win it would have to stop the shelling, which we can't do. Even destroying the artillery platforms would be very difficult and would be replaced easily because, unlike the U.S. in Ukraine, which re
Re: (Score:2)
weeks? fighting? WTF are you on?
The Taiwan artillery and missile batteries are not designed for combat. They are a Mutually Assured Destruction retaliation system.
Attack=>trigger failsafe=>retaliation strikes. Millions dead. Cities reduced to rubble. One and done.
There is no fighting. Taiwan is too out matched to fight. They posture and bluff "defending their territory" with a coast guard patrol and a few jets, but they really only have one move: a massively destructive retaliatory strike.
Re: (Score:2)
I think you may have a reading comprehension problem.
Re: (Score:2)
I highly doubt the Taiwanese government (TSMC's largest shareholder) would be willing to bring more operational redundancy outside of Taiwan for the sole purpose that Taiwan's semiconductor fabrication dominance has single-handedly prevented an invasion by China. There is a reason the semiconductor industry has been dubbed Taiwan's "Silicon Shield".
Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Taiwan happens to be right smack in the middle of the Pacific Ring of Fire [wikipedia.org] and is also in the same region where many of the world's most powerful typhoons [wikipedia.org] occur. A powerful earthquake, tsunami, super typhoon, or the invasion of a vengeful neighbor (which keeps calling Taiwan a "rogue province") might well be what causes the next global economic catastrophe.
Actually, is the other way around. China wants taiwan back as a National pride issue, not for economic reasons. Is too long to explain, and dates back to the Opium wars (you can google around if interested). Actually, it almost happened in the mid of the XX century, when there was no semiconductor industry to speak of.
Actually, if china invaded, the taiwan semiconductor industry would be obliterated, either by planed destruction by the taiwanese govt, or as non-intended collateral damage of the invasion pe
Re: (Score:2)
Re: "Silicon Shield" prevents operational redundan (Score:2)
It is currently part of the PRC, because the PRC is the only legitimate government of all of China, and that includes Taiwan.
It is valid, however, to say that the PRC government has never governed Taiwan.
Still, China is the sign in the UN, and it was the ROC that sat behind is, but they were replaced by the PRC. When that happened, China did not suddenly get smaller by one island. In fact, both ROC and PRC agreed that China included Taiwan, and it's why both aren't part of the UN, like the two Korea are.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It is currently part of the PRC, because the PRC is the only legitimate government of all of China, and that includes Taiwan.
Not according to the people who live in/are from Taiwan.
Everything else is just you rationalizing away their rights.
EPA regs & environmental nonesense (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
It's not like Taiwan is particularly lax on regulations either. Or Japan, where TSMC is building a new fab.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
have prevented chip foundries in this country for several decades...
Not really, Intel, GloFo, Micron and others have been developing fabs USoA side for decades. Thing is, GloFo dropped out of the race for the cutting edge, and intel is still on the race but stumbled, so the two most advanced foundry companies are in SK and TW...
Also, packaging (even the most advanced ones) being a more labour intensive thing than Semicon manufacturing, tends to be done in low cost countries.
Word to the wise for the USoA policymakers: they should stimulate Mexico (and perhaps Brazil) to do s
And less advanced chips are important too (Score:4, Insightful)
While everyone and their dog is fixated on the "most advanced chips", less advanced chips are important too.
UMC, and Nanya (to name 2) are Fabs that operate in Taiwan too, and guess what, many of the chips they manufacture end up in your car, your home theatre or your microwave. And even if your chips were "Fabbed" elsewhere, chances are they will be packaged by ASE group, also located in Taiwan...
Tell Toyota that a $30.000.oo corolla is stuck in the assembly line because a $30 non-advanced chip for the ECU is missing, either because a Fab in Taiwan could no manufacture it, or because the silicon is ready, but it could not be packaged.
Or tell tesla that a $60,000.oo car is also stuck on the assembly line for lack of an ABS/ECU non-advanced chip
Or tell a manufacturer of an appliance (say, a non-smart fridge, that still needs semiconductors) that a U$D appliance is stuck because they could not get a $10,oo non-advanced semiconductors in time.
And contrary to popular beliefs, many of those fab and/or packaging services, and sometimes, even the finakl chips themselves are not easily fungible.
Is not like a manufacturer of a non-advanced ECU chip can shift the VHDL design from the UCM or Nanya rules to the Glofo or ON Semicondutor at the drop of a hat. And is not like a chip designed from the get-go to be packaged by ASE group using ASE's propiertary test/packaging process can be packaged elsewhere by the drop of a hat...
So, do not fixate fetishistically on the bleeding edge, the non-bleeding edge will be equally damaging.
Re: And less advanced chips are important too (Score:2)
Hmmm, my multi-trillion dollar global corporation will collapse if I run out of $2 chips which I use at the rate of a thousand a week.
How many should I keep on the shelf to tide me over any supply problems?
Answer: None, because Some Other Jerk says they can supply all I need Just In Time.
Hooray! Give myself a big bonus for being awesome at business!
Wait until China invades (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
In a decade or two, China will probably have gone through 2 or 3 boxer style rebellions, so no they won't be eating anybody's lunch anytime
Nerds: A earthqauke occurred in Tawain! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
What is gonna happen to all of the computer chips?!
I did not post here out of respect, until I confirmed that casualties were low, and this was not an humanitarian disaster. One I confirmed that was the case, I jopined in the analysis of the implications...
Where the human tragedy be greater, I'd have waited a longer period, out of respect and taste, before joining the analysis...
Similar things happened (to a lesser extent) when the latest palestinian-israeli outbreak (what will happen with intel and Tower semiconductor facilities in haifa?) also with taiwan
"What about my chips?" (Score:2)
For the record, TSMC TEMPORARILY shut down over SAFE