@Free Vulcan @Cyber Liberty @Smokin Joe @Kamaji @DefiantMassRINO @DB
Help me out here, please? I'm piggy-backing upon the Computer-Chip manufacturing 'dilemma'.
Other than convenience and homogeneity, what exactly would be the tragedy of losing Taiwan to the Communist Chinese in this day and age?
I'm speaking strictly of the banking systems, their stock exchanges from an investor's POV.
They're all electronic and backed up by 'Clouds' and copies sent to God-Knows-Where.
The Chinese have already adapted to a system to accommodate Capitalism...crony or otherwise.
Am I exposing my ignorance here?
Everything, from cell phones to washing machines to vehicles to subsystems in buildings you don't even see (but would really miss) runs on microprocessors. Even oil drilling rigs are dependent on electronics for monitoring and control, and agriculture is heavily dependent on gps and computer monitored systems for planting and application of ag chemicals (fertilizers, especially). We aren't even going into aviation, weapons systems, or the like.
Cut off the supply of new chips, and those systems will only run until their electronics degrade, and without spare parts, that will be that.
Taiwan semiconductor foundry market share is shown in the charts below.
Image source:
https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20210305-10693.htmlWith China controlling Taiwan's share, they would control 70% of the world's semiconductor production, and 95% of the rare earths critical to that manufacture (as well as the magnets that make sensors used to operate everything from crank and camshaft timing to servomechanisms to speakers).
In short, the rest of the world would be dependent on China for not only day to day subsystems, but those with military and aerospace applications as well. Not good.
The production of those raw materials and the products is a strategic resource, just like energy production, and energy production relies on computers and computerized subsystems as well.
When I started in the oil industry, we had no computers on location. None. Hand calculators were the bees knees.
Now, in steering a horizontal well, I am surrounded by screens, connected to the cloud, and have four computers in the lab with me, each dedicated to part of that process. There are likely another 15-20 computers on location from monitoring systems to control systems and logging while drilling, the latter the data we use to steer the well in the target.
While microprocessors might be still available in limited numbers and at much higher prices, even a modern upscale automobile will have up to 100 microprocessor regulated subsystems in it governing fuel mixture and engine timing, instrument display, monitoring tire pressure, GPS and navigation, exterior imaging, antilock braking, traction control, cabin temperature, lane position, proximity alerts, automatic parking, suspension stiffness, and gear shifting, some with multiple modes.
We'd be back to basic vehicles with absolutely no whistles and bells in no time.