Re: I think AMD should convert Fab30 to Flash because there is a market for that now....
FAB 30 is for GHZ+ processors. If the situation in Taiwan gets any worse, FAB 25 should be converted to chipset production.
Things are getting ugly between mainland China and Taiwan. There is a movement in congress to restrict our trade with China, most likely starting with large tariffs. There is a movement in China to restrict our trade with Taiwan using ships, rockets, and bombs.
The entire industry has become pretty dependant on China (not to mention Taiwan). Right now, case, keyboard, power supply, mouse, CD-ROM, floppy drive, many motherboards, and some of the parts that stuff the motherboards are sourced or assembled in China. These components and others like chipsets and motherboards come from Taiwan. What if the cost of the box w/o processor, disk, and memory goes from $150 to $750?
The percentage of the box going to the processor would drop, resulting in less price sensitivity for CPUs, and there would be boxes only for a fraction of the current production. Anything slower than 1GHZ would be just about worthless in such a scenario.
nyt.com
Beijing has warned Washington that providing the destroyers could be "the straw that breaks the camel's back," said Rear Adm. Eric McVadon, retired, who was the United States defense and naval attach‚ in China from 1990 to 1992.
"They have said they will react harshly if we do it," he said. "They have said they will not allow Taiwan to have them, and the concern is they will destroy it before it became operational. That then starts a conflict that could bring in the United States."
The end of the 20th century was an almost idyllic time, with widespread economic growth, stable commodity prices, and few international conflicts. The 21st century has started out with a runup in oil prices, and we could have other negative surprises coming soon.
Apprehensively,
Dan |
