Saturday, 20 August 2022 — The New Dark Age
Useless Eaters or Fascism’s New Face?
Related:
WEF Advisor: ‘We Don’t Need Vast Majority of Population’
“Most people don’t contribute anything to that, except perhaps for their data, and whatever people are still doing which is useful, these technologies increasingly will make redundant and will make it possible to replace the people.”
A new kind of madness is seeping into global political discourse, a poisonous fog that suffocates reason. This fog, which has long marinated in old, ugly ideas of white supremacy and Western superiority, is clouding our ideas of humanity. The general malady that ensues is a deep suspicion and hatred of China, not just of its current leadership or even the Chinese political system, but hatred of the entire country and of Chinese civilisation – hatred of just about anything to do with China.
Can We Please Have an Adult Conversation about China?
H/T: Vijay Prashad—US threatens China because China threatens US hegemony
TSMC To Become NVIDIA’s Sole GPU Supplier In 2022
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to rapidly grow its market share by the end of this year according to a fresh report from Korea. TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, as it is responsible for supplying semiconductors to most of the world’s largest technology firms. This list includes the Cupertino, California consumer electronics giant Apple, Inc along with chip designer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD). Additionally, TSMC is also in partnerships with Intel Corporation and Qualcomm Incorporated, both crucial players in the modern day semiconductor industry.
Now, it appears as if the Taiwanese company might soon be responsible for supplying NVIDIA Corporation with all of the latter’s graphics processing units (GPUs). NVIDIA already has a partnership with TSMC for some of its products, but purported problems at the company’s other chip supplier, the Korean firm Samsung Foundry, will force it to switch sides completely to TSMC according to Business Korea.
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The complete switch to TSMC, if true, is ironic since NVIDIA had originally intended to retain some power over suppliers by diversifying as much as it could. TSMC and Samsung are the only two companies in the world that manufacture and sell chips built through advanced technologies (below 7nm) to other firms. NVIDIA is rumored to have agreed to pay as much as $10 billion to TSMC for jumping to the 4nm ship, and the company is also reportedly in talks with Intel Corporation for the latter’s Intel Foundry Services (IFS) plans that will mark Intel’s entry as another player in the contract chip manufacturing industry.
Heard someone say that NVIDIA doesn’t rely so much on TSMC, anymore, but it turns out not to be true. Maybe they meant that they didn’t rely on Samsung, anymore?! On another note, looks like Pelosi dumped some Apple stock before she bought and sold Nvidia.
Related:
TSMC celebrates the near completion of its 5nm Chip Manufacturing facility in Arizona
The company’s Arizona facility would begin mass production in the first quarter of 2024, according to TSMC Chairman Mark Liu’s announcement from the previous year.
The chips made in Arizona are likely purchased by Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Apple. The new Arizona facility should theoretically enable Apple to produce its 5nm bespoke silicon chips for the first time in the country.
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The Arizona facility will be the business’s second production location in the United States. Although TSMC’s primary factories are in Taiwan, the company also has a factory centre in Washington, a design centre in Austin, Texas, and two design centres in San Jose, California. For more updates, follow TechGenies.
Third, the CHIPS Act actually has provisions designed specifically to restrict investments in China. These so-called “guardrails” require that companies taking federal dollars for American projects must also agree not to invest in state-of-the-art technology in China—not just with the federal dollars, with any dollars. Good-faith critics have raised fair concerns that these guardrails should be broader, tougher, and firmer. But any guardrails at all represent unprecedented restrictions on what U.S. companies can do in the People’s Republic. It’s one thing to say an ideal bill would hurt China even more; it’s quite another to try and claim that less-than-perfect restrictions count as “help.”
The hostile behavior the ‘west’ is showing towards China and Russia has consequences.
Exclusions And Sanctions Help ‘Enemies’ To Build Their Own Capabilities
US defence industry boss calls for clarity on what arms Ukraine needs
Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman, one of the top five “prime” contractors in the US, warned that weapons stockpiles had not been built to service a lengthy war.
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“I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’ve heard we’re running out, but if you do project forward that we’re going to want to sustain these levels of commitments for another couple of years — that’s certainly not what anyone had built stockpiles to accommodate,” she said.
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“We think in the long term, there’s going to be a requirement to replace Russian air combat capability — fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft” for the Ukrainians, the industry executive said.*
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Northrop was prepared to make investments, including expanding factories “ahead of a contract”, said Warden, but cautioned that industry needed to “get an indication that if we build it, the demand will come”.
It can take years for a defence company to source parts, assemble, test, and deliver a system.
Northrop Grumman generates more than 80 per cent of its annual revenues from contracts with the US government, including key roles on programmes such as the F-35 fighter jet where it provides parts for the weapons system and avionics. It also led the industry team for NASA’s James Webb space telescope.
Like many manufacturers, Northrop Grumman is wrestling with supply chain challenges, in particular shortages of electronic parts such as cables, connectors and power supplies. Lead times for such parts have “doubled or tripled,” said Warden.
*What a co-inky-dink?!
Title borrowed from:
Ukraine Update: West Can Not Sustain Prolonged Conflict In Ukraine, Says Pentagon Supplier
By Moon of Alabama, Jul 22 2022
The US weapon industry needs US enemies. Without those it is hard to justify an ever-growing war budget. The most lucrative enemy, besides Russia, is of course China.
But there is a problem. China has no interest in being a US enemy and certainly not in being THE enemy. In its view that only takes away resources that are better used elsewhere.
That is the reason why China avoids talks with the US about military and strategic issues.
US Attempts To Make China An Enemy Require A Lot Of Fantasy
Nancy Pelosi’s husband buys millions worth of Nvidia stock ahead of chip-manufacturing bill vote
It’s worth noting that Nvidia designs their owns chips, but hires other companies to manufacture them and likely would not directly receive benefits from subsidies related to this congressional bill.
Related:
Newly sworn-in SEC commissioner is former Pelosi aide
Chips and Dip: Congressional Trading in the Semiconductor Industry since 2020
The whale had to separate Speak Pelosi and Rep. Kim Schrier’s huge AAPL sell offs, as they make their House colleagues’ trades look like peanuts.
This year marks exactly 50 years since the establishment of ties between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. US President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972 and initiated an unprecedented thaw in relations, the first ever between a Communist power and a leading capitalist one. It was a very unusual occurrence, especially as the (First) Cold War was reaching its zenith precisely at that time. Although Mao Zedong himself and Nixon paved the way for the establishment of this relationship, it was only after Deng Xiaoping took power that the modern Sino-American relationship grew and in many ways shaped the economic and geopolitical realities of our time.
China getting rid of US debt holdings amid Washington DC’s escalatory actions and overall US decline
Related:
US debt held by China drops to lowest in 12 years
Speaking at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that the recent battle with inflation could tip the country into another recession.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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