‘Affair in Taiwan’ In the Year of the Rasky Rabbit!
China, ready to ‘Pull a Rabbit Out of the Hat’ Ӫ? Comrade, after two years in the trenches, the order to release the Peoples of the Republic of China unto the world comes as a General’s command to “release hell!” What a rasky rabbit!
US, I informed you last May, with no “Return of the Jedi,” you may feel jaded. But a bad situation can get worse. Imagine if Taiwan was not able to return to your “semiconductor table.”
Taiwan, as to this “Silicon Shield,” ready to defend your shiny little Silicon chips?
China, the US made it pretty clear. You need to play by their rules or not play at all. Looks like U.S. stomped on the game board and took their chips home.
BUT, looks can be deceiving. Misdirected red herrings have been thrown onto the negotiating table.
US → Hey China, how ya like some of our vacs?
↑Which is the “Trojan horse?”↓
China → NATO, say hello to all my little friends!
You see Westerners, a time arises when “a well-placed pawn is more powerful than a King.”
Japan and South Korea are said to be well equipped with US Patriot System or Surface to Air Missile (SAM). SAM comes in a PAC-2 or PAC-3 model. Yet, Taiwan and Ukraine are still waiting.
Will ‘squeaky wheel get the worm.” After the Kraines’ raised a rackus and flew to see Joe, US said it’s gonna send Ukraine a PAC-3. It figures, wouldn’t want the Ruskis to take possession of a PAC-2.
Taiwan, any news? Your two northern buddies (Japan and South Korea) are well equipped to defend themselves. Why US delay? As soon as China breaks your silicon shield it could take possession of the Yanks PAC-2 or PAC-3.
Military time of service extended to 12 months? Taiwan, is it a sign that you’re expecting a PAC-2 or PAC-3 soon and know it’s gonna take lots more soldiers to operate them and many more months to train them. Good idea. You saw what happened when the Ukrainians misfired and hit their neighbor Poland.
China, how do you strike an enemy while keeping its kingdom intact and secure its treasures? Forget not the power of Taiwan’s “silicon shield.”
“First Chinese bomb or rocket that should fall on the island would make the supply chain impact of the COVID pandemic seem like a mere hiccup in comparison. As the world’s leading trading country, the Chinese economy would be the biggest loser, but the impact would be global.”
Taiwan, key is in using world’s reliance to your advantage. In the West, “The main U.S. weakness is its dependence on long and vulnerable supply chains.” Neighbor to the East, “Far more even than Taiwan and South Korea, China also has a critical shortage of the necessary technicians and engineers to operate foundry machines to expand domestic chip production.”
Yet, when it comes to risk, the “siliconed” island is not impervious. Taiwan, “as a small island state which relies on exports such as electronic equipment, machinery, mineral fuels, and optical, technical and medical equipment, Taiwan is most vulnerable to the impact of globalization…” Of course, these risks are now new.
However, best the US not “underestimate China’s rapid rise in many aspects of science and technology and how far it may be able to exceed U.S. competitiveness.” Negotiate with China? Hell, US “negotiating” skills left Railroad strikers (essential jobs) “sick to their stomach.” Joe, what of the billions for transportation to build back better?
Funny, how both houses of Congress easily agreed on “raising awareness of Chinese Uyghur persecution.” Tell us, like the price of tea in China, what the hell does it have to do with the price of energy and food?
Joe, not only did you fail miserably at home, but it seems you ‘fell asleep at the wheel’ attempting to drive past the Ruski ‘red line’ in “negotiating” with Russia.
Leave it to the Americans to trade a ‘tinker tailor” for a token. Hmm, who had the upper hand in the Russian-US prisoner swap? Once again, Joe, you did not heed my message to keep your eye on the spy.
DOD is SOL: Profits Trump Patriotism
“The Western democracies, for example, are out after money and the Eastern Communists are out after power; otherwise they share an identical view of life, and [such] ideologies which accompany identical acts can only be described as a cruel hoax.” – John Wilkinson, The Technological Society, 1964
US Patriot System exemplifies the business of war; be it their own or by proxy. Taiwan, will you too roll this beast out if and when you get it? One may say $billions for bits of rare chips makes sense. But WTF is Ukraine giving in return?
Western Corporations have and will continue to do business with the enemy in war and crises. From depressions to inflations to recessions, Wall Street cannot and will not be deterred or reformed. Nature of the beast.
US Government, since the Great Depression has put forth a “New Deal,” 2008 Financial Crisis made way for Corporate bailout deals, and recent 2020 Pandemic gave away Corporate relief funds. In this “China War,” tech companies are being recompensed for lost business in the form of Acts: Stem Act and CHIPS and Science Act.
Intent of US CHIPS and Science Act is in “Boosting national security and 5G supply chains: The CHIPS Act allocates $2 billion to the US Department of Defense to fund microelectronics research, fabrication, and workforce training. An additional $500 million goes to the US Department of State to coordinate with foreign-government partners on semiconductor supply chain security.”
Let’s be clear, US reported chip shortages is not entirely correct. There are plenty of companies that have been popping out chips thanks to their global partners in the Americas, Asia, India, UK, Europe and Australia. The actual problem is the type of chip NOT produced – advanced chips for Defense.
You see, mass production of chips for consumer electronics are quickly and cheaply made. But the tailored made chip for the DOD, advanced and specialty size, takes lots of time and money. They’re like the Ferrari of chips. Or, for you Yankees, the Ford Shelby.
Defense is just about the only one that can afford them. But DOD is pretty much SOL. A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY.
In a “Request for Solutions” two years ago “the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) noted that “The United States currently has no onshore access to foundry technology capable of meeting the Department of Defense’s (DoD) long-term leading-edge microelectronics manufacturing needs.” But this was not always the case.
In the Reagan era, there was a “need to retainU.S. global leadership in chips to counter the Soviet bloc’s numerically superior military forces through “smart” systems driven by semiconductors—satellites, stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and the like.” But greedy corporations put profits over patriotism.
Now, the “super power” faces a “rival that is stronger economically and technologically than the Soviet Union ever was.” Ironically it also faces competition from within – consumer-centric tech sector. The same tech sector doing business with its “rival” opened the door to sabotage, Intellectual Property theft and cyber security issues.
Air defense challenges keep piling up. Heard of the recent crash of an F-35? Israel Air Force “grounded 11 of its advanced F-35 stealth jets.” Even so, “Israel has agreed to purchase at least 50 F-35 fighter jets from the US defense contractor Lockheed Martin.” If anyone can tinker with the jet, find and remove the bugs it’s the start-up nation.
National Security risks exemplify the Priceless! Power of the Semiconductor “Bargaining Chip”
US was not the only one with failed launches and crashes in 2022. For Japan rocket crash, “The failure was the Epsilon rocket’s first in six launches since its 2013 debut.” And as Lockheed Martin and JAXA do their investigations, it is important to note “TSMC makes semiconductors used in F-35 fighters and a wide range of “military-grade” devices used by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).” Japan whose did you use?
Few years back I pointed out…
Vulnerability of the F-35 or “flying supercomputer” is in its high-tech computing strength-it can be shut down. Key for adversaries is to find its “Achilles’ heel,” gain access to the code and lock it down. Time will tell if Lockheed Martin’s “supercomputer” is impregnatable.
Lockheed, is that time now?
Appears that both “Moore’s Law” and “Murphy’s Law” are at work. USAF Col. John Paul Stapp aka the “fastest man on earth’ was familiar with Murphy. Interested in Stapp and Murphy’s Law? Suggest reading about them from Nick T. Spark.
Good News! It appears that in its 11th hour of need, the DOD “found” a chip supplier. Arising from an American company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and Middle Eastern owned before going public, “GlobalFoundries (GF) just announced a strategic partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to supply chips from its Fab 8 in Malta, New York.”
Google appears to want to take part in the chip action. Or, rather chip design. “The companies said last month that they are expanding the program to include an open-source chip design platform powered by Google for Skywater’s 90-nm FDSOI node. The Department of Defense is contributing funding.”
Tech companies, what better way to get government off your social media back than to help them militarily. Speak of the devil and getting Gov off your back, last May I pointed out the JEDI was not to return. In its place was put the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) valued at $9 billion. Still, JWCC was pushed back to the 2023.
Pentagon opened a competition and invited select companies. John Sherman, Chief Information Officer has noted possible qualifiers: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM and Oracle.
Hello! Heard of mass job cuts? From the fleabag commerce company to Twitter to Tech. Like in the Cyberspace Race, the DODs blueprint appears to follow legacy designs and old companies.
“Mikey Mouse” Blacklists
From Trump to Biden, US Presidents continue to toy with the idea of blacklisting Chinese companies. Elephant and Donkey can’t seem to get it through their heads.
Mighty war machines were built in America. But unlike the past, confronting today’s global threats is unrealizable. One cannot build on sand and semiconductors made by the enemy to fight the enemy.
The DOD “blacklists,” posted in the summer of 2020 at the rise of the pandemic, do not seem to have deterred China. US and UK appear to be hedging their bets doing business with China except for its so-called military linked companies.
But aren’t they one and the same? Global supply chains are part of investment futures. All systems are chained to a World Wide Web. Think SWIFT.
Apple CEO stated, “Here’s what we do today. The iPhone is really not made anywhere. It’s made everywhere. That’s the truth.” If the most coveted item, the iPhones, is made “everywhere,” safety is an illusion.
Americans’ sudden realization that economic security is tied to national security can only be conceived as either feigned naiveté or ineptitude.
UK’s concerns seem to have come too little too late especially as to Nexperia. According to cybersecurity expert Dominique Lazanski, “When a Chinese company or a subsidiary goes and tries to buy a company that makes specific technology and holds specific intellectual property, that’s a concern.”
Past notions of trade ≠ war do not square with present futile attempts of China decoupling. Especially in the age of global reliance on strategic minerals for both economic and national security.
See, if economic security is national security, why are Chinese companies like SHENGHE RESOURCES HOLDING CO., LTD listed as a shareholder to US companies likeMP Materials Corp? Yep, nothing like “adding fuel to the fire” of the future 2025 Red Dragon.
Trade wars throw a wrench into the machinery of “the deal.” Or, should we call it “controlled chips” offered by Nvidia? But no one is talking. Not Nvidia, US Commerce, or China’s Inspur, H3C, and OmniSky.
Hmm, A100 or A800? China, which Nvidia advanced chip will you utilize for E-car and military? Will you be lucky or right?
Future Impact on Europe? The force of a chip pendulum swing may likely cause a reshifting towards redirecting investment in Europe. Netherlands’ very own, “PhotonDelta lands €1.1 billion to usher in a new generation of semiconductor technology.”
But things are not looking good for another. Nexperia “headquartered in The Netherlands, is shocked by the UK Government’s decision to order the divestment of 86% of its semiconductor wafer factory in South Wales, known as Newport Wafer Fab (NWF).” Funny, it took the government a year to do so.
Why? Looks like they just discovered that the “Chinese-owned technology company Nexperia” posed a national security risk. The “UK orders sale of microchip factory by China’s Nexperia, citing national security.” Of course, Brits are in lockstep with the Americans. Hmm, wonder how many companies will be on their “blacklist.”
Dance with the Taiwan Lady. Who’s the Lucky Rabbit?
In the film, Affair in Trinidad, Rita Hayworth plays an alluring singer and dancer. She is caught between an American and an entrepreneur whose fortune is built on exchanging information with the enemy facilitating treason and the launching of Nazi rockets from the island to the US.
Like Rita, Taiwan is caught between a Capitalist and a Communist. Tempted by her charming chips, both men fight to the death. US and China – Who’s the enemy and who’s the businessman?
Joe, best not to flirt with Taiwan.
President Xi Jinping: “Play with fire, get burn.”
Joe: “I say what I mean, I mean what I say.”
Taiwan sings like the Trinidad Lady, “I do what I love, love what I do. You want what you can’t have, and you’re all to blame.”
US, sending your old House speaker did not fare well. Perhaps a charming American male would have done the trick and got to dance with the Taiwan Lady. 😉