I love how everyone on this thread is giving energy advice to the country that "makes the world's computer chips". Surely they have a couple of smart people on that island…
In democracies (or any other government type other than the theoretical technocracy) smart people don't necessarily get to make decisions. Political considerations and dumb voters have to be taken into account.
If a party has been anti-nuclear for decades, they won't change their stance even in the face of reality, and regardless of the actual facts and arguments.
I reckon that solar chips are approaching potato chips in terms of (relative to CPU) techological sophistication ... IOW, TSMC has better things to do than panels.
I think it's more like how would one feel about a passenger plane that a rocket scientist wouldn't touch or ride, than if it makes sense for them to build one
Importing the most advanced silicon fabs from other countries (ASML, which makes the machines that make the world's computer chips) is a different skill than building power plants. Even the nuclear power stations they have were built by General Electric and Westinghouse.
The reason Taiwan is valuable is because they are allowed to import western tech that China is not allowed to have, and the labor is somehow cheaper there to operate it.
TSMC, a Taiwanese company, operates the most advanced chip fabs in the world. ASML provides a key component required for it, but it’s only part of the process.
Labor costs constitute just 5-10% of cutting-edge chips fabs like those operated by TSMC. The company’s operating profit margin is around 40%.
If it were just labor costs, there’d already be such fabs in several countries given how strategically important chips are in modern life and national security.
>ASML provides a key component required for it, but it’s only part of the process.
Without the equipment from ASML, Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing would be nothing, we wouldn't even be talking about them - they wouldn't be "operating the most advanced chip fabs in the world". The fact is, the high-tech of Taiwan is imported. While they may have smart people in Taiwan, they were not the ones who created this advanced tech.
Labor costs absolutely do have a lot to do with why these fabs are located in Taiwan, as well as other lower costs than in the U.S. due to regulations and everything that comes with running manufacturing in the U.S.
But my point stands that Taiwan imports their semiconductor fab equipment, as well as their power generation facilities. It's a small island, there's only so much that they can build there. Just because an island can produce advanced semiconductors does not mean they have the capability to build power stations themselves.
ASML has a monopoly in their niche and no other companies in the world currently have equivalent tech. Should one diss all other advanced countries the same way?
By the same token, ASML wouldn’t be where they are without advanced components from other countries.
In today's world, no country is the most advanced in every tech.
> The reason Taiwan is valuable is because they are allowed to import western tech that China is not allowed to have, and the labor is somehow cheaper there to operate it.
ASML can export to many countries. Why can't any other country in the West or which is a Western ally afford to subsidize the 5-10% extra profit margin for labor costs and successfully build a similarly advanced fab like TSMC's for strategic reasons and to make significant profits as well?
Regarding nuclear power plants, they might not currently have the capability because it's not their priority to develop it, and they can quite easily hire companies from other countries to build them. Comparative advantage and all that.
