ASML could brick Taiwan's chipmaking machines in case of uninvited guests (www.theregister.com)
from 0nekoneko7@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 21 May 2024 13:55
https://lemmy.world/post/15646098

#technology

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 21 May 2024 13:55 next collapse

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.


The original article contains 729 words, the summary contains 208 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca on 21 May 2024 14:26 next collapse

I had nothing to do with this.

eran_morad@lemmy.world on 21 May 2024 14:56 next collapse

Fuck ccp

Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 21 May 2024 16:08 next collapse

Based

problematicPanther@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 09:05 collapse

-1000 social credits.

[deleted] on 21 May 2024 17:40 next collapse

.

pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 21 May 2024 21:26 next collapse

🧿

gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works on 22 May 2024 00:36 next collapse

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 on 22 May 2024 02:59 next collapse

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

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 23 May 2024 17:18 collapse

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 on 22 May 2024 05:49 collapse

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 on 22 May 2024 14:45 collapse

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.

gaiussabinus@lemmy.world on 22 May 2024 20:18 next collapse

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

calcopiritus@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 08:00 next collapse

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.

gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works on 23 May 2024 08:21 collapse

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.

0nekoneko7@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 08:33 next collapse

You’re watching too much political crap news (fearmongering propaganda). Nothing major will happen even if the world loses Taiwan Chip Fabs. Only the USA will make more huge profits because it has local chip manufacturers/foundries like Intel, TSMC, Honeywell, Odyssey Semiconductor, Global Foundry, Tower Semiconductor, Skywater foundry, BAE System, Polar Semiconductor, Lansdale, LA semiconductor, and many other IDMs. The crisis will create demand, They’ll work 24x7 to fulfill the market demand at higher prices. maybe x3 or x5 times the normal market price, increasing the price of consumer electronic goods that may decline sales of electronic goods. Also, will cut the competition by sanctioning the major Chinese semiconductor companies. Leaving only Samsung and a few Japanese players in the market. The conclusion is US will keep making profits and gains, from the crises anywhere on Earth. 🤑

gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works on 23 May 2024 09:36 collapse

You don’t seem to understand the proportion of chips that Taiwan makes for the world these days.

In terms of replacement capacity… there’s not any. You don’t simply flip a switch and start producing other chips on your fab line, let alone scale shit out 5-10x like that on the drop of a hat. It’s not 3D printing. If Taiwan is invaded and they’re forced to destroy their chip industry, there will be an enormous supply shortfall for several YEARS at least, even in the best possible case.

0nekoneko7@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 10:34 next collapse

I know the Taiwanese semiconductor chip market and I also understand the capacity/volume of share in the global supply chain. You’re the one ignorant of the political game behind it. You’re only spotlighting one factor (economic downfall) of what the US government wants you to see. seeding narrative of fear. while disregarding everything else. because it doesn’t fit your narrative. My point is The world doesn’t end with semiconductor chips or technology. It merely plays a part in the human ingenuity. USA is already working on expanding its fabs. triple the current size in the next 10 years. DO you still think the economy is crashing, the world is ending? Don’t imagine stuff like you’re living in a fallout. Human beings have survived 1000s of years. Will survive 1000s more. So try to see a bigger picture. US government is trying to make an opportunity out of Taiwan, selling weapons to everyone. later when Taiwan become a ruin. US government will come to rob the graves of Taiwan for whatever left of it. Like it did to Germany and Japan at the end of WW2.

gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works on 23 May 2024 16:20 collapse

I feel like you’re not reading what I wrote. Maybe making it bigger will help:

What you’re saying indicates that you don’t understand the extremely nuanced and industry specific constraints around integrated circuit manufacturing at scale.

The fact that you’re sticking to your guns so hard here tells me that you’re deep into Dunning-Kruger territory.

0nekoneko7@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 16:27 next collapse

Please Make it BIGGER 🔎

0nekoneko7@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 16:42 collapse

my bad! I must have missed the fine print on the PhD in integrated circuit manufacturing. Thanks for the tip, I’ll be sure to bring my magnifying glass next time.

Miaou@jlai.lu on 24 May 2024 11:19 collapse

Certainly not a PhD in reading comprehension.

0nekoneko7@lemmy.world on 25 May 2024 05:01 collapse

Good one. 👍‍😂

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 23 May 2024 17:28 collapse

Would definitely hurt Wintel though.

interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml on 23 May 2024 08:55 next collapse

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 on 23 May 2024 16:16 collapse

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 on 23 May 2024 17:27 next collapse

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 on 23 May 2024 18:28 collapse

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.

[deleted] on 23 May 2024 16:59 next collapse

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rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 23 May 2024 17:22 collapse

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.

istanbullu@lemmy.ml on 22 May 2024 07:24 collapse

Too bad ASML is not allowed to sell to China anymore and the Chinese are making their own machines :)

Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world on 22 May 2024 08:31 next collapse

ASML’s machines are very advanced using a lot of specialized parts (who’s export is probably also banned) and taking a lot of skilled labour to make. China will probably be able to eventually get there, but it’s going to be a while.

istanbullu@lemmy.ml on 22 May 2024 11:33 next collapse

gizmochina.com/…/smic-achieves-success-in-5nm-nod…

Already happening.

Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world on 22 May 2024 20:09 collapse

Samsung started with 5nm in 2018, so that’s still 6 years behind.

istanbullu@lemmy.ml on 23 May 2024 07:36 collapse

I’m writing this message from a laptop with 10nm chip. It works fine. nanometers aren’t everything. Most of the time they are just marketing.

Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 07:51 collapse

Yea that is true, but in smaller form factors a 10 nm chip wouldn’t be sufficient anymore. They generally consume more energy or they are slower.

If consumers had the choice between the two chips they generally choose the smaller ones because of their inherent benefits.

istanbullu@lemmy.ml on 23 May 2024 13:23 collapse

You can do a lot with a working 5nm process. This will hurt Samsung and TSMC (and by extention Qualcomm and Intel) a lot. The market isn’t just the most cutting edge stuff.

werefreeatlast@lemmy.world on 22 May 2024 13:38 collapse

Like a loooong fucking while. Or I mean they could just stick with what they got.

Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 May 2024 13:02 collapse

.ml don’t shill for China challenge:

istanbullu@lemmy.ml on 23 May 2024 07:38 collapse

does it offend you when people have opinions different than yours?

Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 23 May 2024 11:14 next collapse

All forms of bigotry are opinions, so yes; there are specific opinions that I get offended by when I see them.

istanbullu@lemmy.ml on 23 May 2024 13:16 collapse

in my experience people who accuse others of bigotry are often bigots themselves.

Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 23 May 2024 13:58 collapse

🤨

.ml don’t be a fascist challenge.

riodoro1@lemmy.world on 23 May 2024 11:49 collapse

Yes, it offends me that people are assholes.