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Intel Not Considering UK Chip Factory After Brexit
Intel not considering UK chip factory after Brexit:
The boss of Intel says the US chipmaker is no longer considering building a factory in the UK because of Brexit.
Pat Gelsinger told the BBC that before the UK left the EU, the country "would have been a site that we would have considered".
[...] Intel wants to boost its output amid a global chip shortage that has hit the supply of cars and other goods.
[...] "I have no idea whether we would have had a superior site from the UK," he said. "But we now have about 70 proposals for sites across Europe from maybe 10 different countries.
UK Public Now Eating Significantly Less Meat
UK public now eating significantly less meat:
[...] The new study, published in the journal the Lancet Planetary Health, revealed that while most people are eating less red and processed meat compared to a decade ago, they are eating more white meat.
High consumption of red and processed meat can increase the risk of health problems including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and even certain cancers.
Meat production also has a higher environmental impact - producing more planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions - than other types of agriculture and food production.
Journal Reverence:
Cristina Stewart, Carmen Piernas, Brian Cook, et al. Trends in UK meat consumption: analysis of data from years 1–11 (2008–09 to 2018–19) of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey rolling programme The Lancet Planet Health [Open]
(DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00228-X)
(Score: 5, Informative) by quietus on Monday October 11 2021, @04:07PM (8 children)
The European Commission was/is actually calling for 2nm production facilities by the end of this decade. Here is a critical look [stiftung-nv.de] at this (misguided, according to the author) effort. Mainly, there isn't a business case [for 2nm]: there's simply no European demand for 7 or 5nm production currently, and much of the chip design community/knowhow is located in the United States, who are unlikely to suddenly go ordering their chips from Europe.
To counter (a bit) that criticism: the production machinery comes from the Netherlands [hollandsemiconductors.nl], with the design and research for the next-generation happening there [asml.com] and in Belgium (1) [imec-int.com](2) [electronicsweekly.com] (they're now working on beyond 1 nm), while in Saxony, Germany alone, 2,600 companies / 60,000 employees [dw.com] are active in the sector.
Also, do not forget that a lot of chips [bosch.com] aren't used in laptops and servers, but have spread into just about every tool or piece of machinery/equipment you can think of (think electronic bike brakes and speed gear, for example).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday October 11 2021, @04:41PM (7 children)
It doesn't seem too nutty a goal when you think of it in terms of security: There are well-justified concerns about spying hardware being snuck into chips and boards by their manufacturers' home countries. Plus there's the risk of the supply chain being interrupted if there's war or trade disputes, so having more domestic production would be valuable. EU nations have been pretty consistently comfortable with supporting other industries for strategic reasons like that, e.g. the big push towards renewable energy which is environmentally wise but also just happens to help protect them from Russian oil and gas shenanigans that have caused trouble for them in the past.
As for the chip design know-how, I have no doubt that the Europeans, with their top-notch educational systems and substantially higher degree of scientific literacy than the US, could get up to speed quickly. I also would be very surprised if there aren't EU citizens already working in chip design at US companies that would be delighted to take their talents and experience back home if the right job is available for them in Europe.
Plus this makes it a lot easier to ensure that design and production is done in accordance with EU expectations of quality control, human rights, labor rights, and environmental protections.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Monday October 11 2021, @05:18PM (6 children)
They won't, but they could.
"If".
There's a reason those people aren't in the EU. For all the flaws of the US, it still has a better business environment than the EU does.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday October 11 2021, @06:07PM (1 child)
My argument is based on the idea that chip designers are humans, not profit-maximizing robots, and so factors other than tax rates and profit margins matter, like:
- Living near family members.
- Better and cheaper health care.
- Better education for any kids they might have.
- Being able to communicate with most people using the language they grew up with in their everyday life.
- Being better able to enjoy their home country's culture and traditions.
And if you don't think that matters, ask yourself what it would take to convince you to live and work in Ulaanbaatar (or some other place far away and unfamiliar to you) for the rest of your career. Even if the after-tax pay was a bit better, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't immediately pack up and move.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 11 2021, @06:14PM
Also, none of that is going to help create a competitive business, the part two of your scenario.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Monday October 11 2021, @07:42PM (3 children)
If I may chime in: how do you define a "better business environment"?
About Europe getting quickly up to speed: my brother actually graduated as a VLSI engineer (Very Large Scale Integration, aka a 'chip designer'), in 1989 if I'm correct. (He also, coincidentally, worked at IMEC -- but as a programmer).
I don't know why, but it is a matter of fact that computer production (mainboard, cpu, ram, hdd) never seemed to have taken off in Europe (I can only recall AMD server cpu's and mainboards in the 2000s) yet telecom equipment and [electronics integration into] machinery did (or at least that's my impression).
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 12 2021, @01:05AM (2 children)
There's three areas that the EU has a harder time with. First, poor business creation. For example, when I glanced at IMEC on Wikipedia, I find that it started life as a government funded non profit. So right there is a typical EU problem - businesses getting created because of the connections of the founders to public funding sources, not because the product is useful or compelling.
Second, is a terrible labor environment. If labor is so scarce that labor unions are inherently powerful, that's one thing. But when they are because the laws and regulations put a thumb on the scale in favor of labor unions (and other institutional actors), it's a recipe for a stagnant work environment. Notice how like so much other high tech industry, the gig economy started in the US not in the EU. You'll never see a labor union think that way.
Third is competition. The EU has a bunch of peculiar regulations that just so happen to protect domestic industry. A classic example are the ISO 9000 series of business process standards. It's a shitshow, but those quality management processes are so beautifully documented! The standards create a barrier to entry for outside businesses in saner parts of the world (which I gather is really the whole point of the exercise), but it also creates a competitive disadvantage to the EU businesses that are trying to export from the EU to other parts of the world - which let us note is much bigger than the EU.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Tuesday October 12 2021, @08:10AM (1 child)
IMEC was born as part of industrial policy -- it fulfills a role akin to the United States' National Laboratories [nationallabs.org]. ASML, on the other hand, is not.
As to poor business creation: in 2018, 2.5 million new enterprises created 3.3 million jobs (in the EU [europa.eu]). In that same year, 1.9 million new jobs were created (by small businesses) in the US [sba.gov].
As to your ideas about labor unions: that seems to be rooted in the 60-70s, and then only for big companies and government. What do you mean with the 'gig economy', by the way, and what is its relation to high-tech?
ISO stands for International Standardization Organization. It was setup, if I recall correctly, to ensure parts (think screws and bolts) from Europe were compatible with those of the United States, and vice versa. I'm pretty sure the US has an extensive representation at that body. Besides, as far as I know, the ISO 9000 series of standards are voluntary. Few companies have them, but those that achieved them advertise them to prove they've reached a certain standard of excellence.
Anyhow, you are trolling me once again (I think): you've carefully avoided mentioning any of the true advantages of the United States, as a business environment.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday October 13 2021, @12:21PM
Except that it was established by a region that's part of Belgium and thus, can't fulfill a role akin to a EU-level organization. As to ASML, I think it more likely that the IC producers could make their own UV lithography than ASML could make their own ICs. It's patents that keep ASML as the sole provider.
Small businesses != new enterprises. There will be substantial big business in the EU total.
On labor unions, I think that is more an EU phenomenon than a khallow perception. I keep running across large, nation-scale labor unions every time I look at EU country economics.
As to the gig economy [wikipedia.org], which is that work is done something like web pages - stateless and ephemeral. In a normal job, you can't just up and quit without consequence (such as being rehired in a few days or weeks). With gig work, you can do that in five minutes after you finish your latest task without telling anyone.
Companies like Uber by necessity have to be high tech to handle the necessary complex, real time matching of need with gig labor supply.
The gimmick comes when EU countries voluntarily decide to adopt these standards, meaning that you have to voluntarily adopt them as well, if you want to do significant business with them or anyone else that voluntarily adopted the standards - they're somewhat sticky.
Like? I don't think, for example, that a common language is all that advantageous.