this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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[–] uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca 107 points 5 months ago

I had nothing to do with this.

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 37 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] problematicPanther@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

-1000 social credits.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 31 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I mean, one of Taiwan’s last-resort contingency plans is to basically blow up all their chip foundries and the machinery inside of it. They are absolutely willing to go scorched earth if their back is against the wall and there’s no hope of a successful defense.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Damn, I wonder if China's thought of that? Like infiltrators and advance specops to secure high value infrastructure? Probably not.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Probably yes. All the assassin shit is something the West is not as ahead of the rest of the world as people seem to expect from the difference in technological development.

That aside, they do have some production of their own. EDIT: Good for military and good for usable PCs for China not to stop breathing without TSMC-made hardware.

[–] 0nekoneko7@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

you're mistaken if you think PLA priority is any of the Chip manufacturing fabs.

Priority taking the whole of Taiwan under the control of the mainland Chinese government.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 27 points 5 months ago (6 children)

If the PRC somehow successfully takes Taiwan, but in doing so, utterly destroys the vast majority of the world’s cutting edge chip foundry lines for cpu + gpu + ram + nvme, it’s a pretty safe bet that the rest of the world will be absolutely fucking livid with China at the very least, because it would cause EVERYONE’S economy to crash.

[–] calcopiritus@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The point is not for people to be angry at china. The point is advertising that you're gonna blow up the world economy if something happens to you, therefore the world has a huge incentive to defend them against china, before they blow up their fabs.

That was the underlying implication of my comment. Of course nobody wants any of these threats to be carried out. But they’re useless as geopolitical constraints unless the threat is credible.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 months ago

If the effect will really be as bad, that will make being livid with China simply irrelevant.

I like Taiwan more than I like PRC.

Still, such a world (after a few decades of dystopian chaos) would definitely have interesting changes.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

China is mainly concerned with breaking out of the first island chain. Foreign Taiwan is basically a knife held on their throath. The fallout on the day after is worth it to them.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works -1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

An independent Taiwan is nothing of the sort.

The PRC could have adopted a much more diplomatic and friendly approach - think EU-esque. Instead of this dipshit woLf wArRioR crap, the PRC could have taken the more mature and measured approach, and worked towards making a strong industrial, geopolitical, and economic alliance with Taiwan.

Hell, if they just accepted that the slow and steady approach was probably going to work better than the “I’m going to have a tantrum” approach in general, they’d probably be doing way better in a whole slew of areas. They could have essentially created a de facto alliance with Taiwan over shared culture, language, and history… but no, Xi wants to prove how big his dick is I guess.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 months ago

I'd say both sides gain more from the rest of the world with this conflict. China still gets Taiwanese-produced chips and Chinese companies work with Taiwanese companies. Taiwan gets to resist integration into PRC, which would eventually happen with such an alliance. China gets to threaten the rest of the world with a crisis.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml -1 points 5 months ago

Western support for Taiwan, and establishing indispensable parts of its supply lines there, is mainly about maintaining a strategically important chokehold on China's maritime traffic and keep their imperial ambitiins bottled up. The Taiwanese cheap labour was just a little cherry on too.

[–] gaiussabinus@lemmy.world -5 points 5 months ago

Bold of you to assume that everyone's economy isn't already crashing.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 10 points 5 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Netherlands-based ASML is said to have reassured the Dutch government that it can remotely disable its most advanced chipmaking machines should such an invasion happen, at least according to Bloomberg, which cites anonymous sources claimed to be familiar with the matter.

It isn't clear how ASML could remotely disable equipment sitting in a factory in Taiwan, but it is understood that the huge and complex photolithography machines require regular servicing and maintenance to keep them running.

ASML declined to comment on the question of a "kill switch," but confirmed to The Register that its equipment requires high maintenance to keep it operational, as does most of the machinery in a semiconductor plant.

Andrew Buss, IDC Senior Research Director in EMEA, agreed that ASML's chipmaking machines would not keep running for long without constant attention.

"These advanced machines are installed and run in co-operation with customers given their complexity and overall size, and just keeping them going requires ongoing active engagement, so they would likely not last long without manufacturers' support anyhow," he said.

Back in 2022, a US Army War College paper proposed that Taiwan should deter China by planning to completely destroy its semiconductor manufacturing capability in the event of an invasion by Xi Jinping's armed forces.


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