Global Foundries is set to receive $1.5 billion in government funds under the CHIPS Act, and another $600 million from New York state in one form or another.
Global Foundries was originally the manufacturing arm of AMD, and was then spun off as a separate company, acquired the semiconductor operations of AMD, and was bought by the UAE, not necessarily in that order.
The company is planning to invest $12 billion over the next decade, mostly on specialised production like gallium nitride and expanding bulk processes on 12nm.
Is this money well spent? Probably not; if it were, Global Foundries wouldn't need the money. Is it money better spent than almost anything the US federal government does? Maybe.
@Aether every country should be subsidizing strategically important industries on their own soil
but they should also be extremely careful who they let run such things, and nail said people to the wall (literally) when they start fucking around, skimming money, shirking their duty, etc
of course we're not doing that second part. this will just be another giant grift for insiders to get rich off of
@deprecated_ii When it comes to strategic resources like Chips, pretty much every country needs a localised manufacturer. Trouble is that Globo Homo is against any such thought
@Aether@deprecated_ii Chips manufacturing require long supply chain. Even finding non-smocking personal might be too much for some countries, never mind reliable supply of pure silicone wafers.
@Marakus@Aether it wasn't that long ago that local manufacturing and sourcing was the norm virtually everywhere for everything. sure, people were importing niche goods they didn't have locally but they weren't buying industrial feedstocks from the other side of the planet
anyone, anywhere should be able to make silicon crystals of sufficient purity with the right expertise and enough energy to pump into the process. you can find relatively clean deposits of silicates literally anywhere on earth
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