Keating’s Bleatings – Again

It seems like just yesterday that people were telling me to “beware of Hawke’s talks and Keating’s bleatings” – seemingly unaware that I was a dyed-in-the-wool Labor voter. (Or maybe they knew and just didn’t give a shit, or were trying to get a rise out of me. Whatever. They’re 30-40 years in the past and I wouldn’t know any of them from a pothole if I met them nowadays.)

And now he’s back, but not as a person I can admire. Paul Keating, like so many past Prime Ministers, should not be allowed out of cold storage. Face it – by that age they’re even more opinionated than I am, and that can’t be allowed. (I yam old and I yam cranky and I yam Your Editor and can have opinions…)

Especially when the national broadcaster is just as stupid and shortsighted and Keating was in this instance. Look – I’m actually 110% behind him about blowing AUKUS out of the pond – John (aka “Mr Sheen”) Howard had his nose so far up George W and W Clinton’s backsides that we thought we’d lost him and they’d gained a hemorrhoid apiece.

As far as I’m concerned AUKUS is a deal that basically cost us money and obligations and will give us, and I say “You want submarines? Close your eyes. What do you see? Cos that’s what you’ll get.” The Yanks will give us submarines way in the future, but only if they “have no use for them when built” and you name me one Chief of the Military that’d look a gift sub in the prop shroud and give it to someone else’s navy?

And I’m pretty sure that AUKUS looks like FUKUS for a reason.

And The ABC Radio Crew?

Well they agreed with Mr Keating. The problem is that Mr Keating also thinks that “Taiwan” is identical to “China” – and that we shouldn’t involve ourselves there. And the crew agreed with him. This means that seven and a half million listeners also think Taiwan belongs to China and that we have no stake in keeping Taiwan independent.

And nothing could be further from the truth. Taiwan has microchip manufacturing facilities (“foundries”) that are unrivalled in the world. Almost every tablet, PC, mobile phone, or other device with a processor faster than a 5-year-old PC has chips that are made in a Taiwan foundry – and nowhere else.

The chip manufacturing machines (UV lithography machines) are made by a Dutch company ASML and most of them go to Taiwan. All the latest 7nm and 5nm (a nanometre (nm) is a billionth of a metre, a human hair is 100,000 nm thick) are in Taiwan. I think. There may be one being delivered but I haven’t really researched it.

The point is that Taiwan buys most of ASML’s output. These machines are contracted for years and years ahead, there’s no way to speed up manufacture of them – so Taiwan is Chip City as far as the world’s tech companies are concerned, and TSMC is the jewel in the crown. We need Taiwan.

There are manufacturing facilities making the less demanding chips and support chips but the fast processors made in the last few years, the chips that make today’s smart phones and tablets and laptops possible, are made in Taiwan. Other countries are painfully aware that they can’t get similar machines without a fairly long wait.

The States are hurrying to build capacity to build the high-density chips, China wants to build high-density chips. There are many UV lithography machines that can make medium density chips around the world, and they’re great for making the support chips, but the large processing chips and graphics processing unit (GPU) chips can only be made on the new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines and the new generation that are even better than the EUV machines.

The States are a bit annoyed because they have to wait in line for EUV technology, as I said ASML are the only real game in town as far as the lithography machines go and their production is contracted for, for a while yet. But they intend to build their factories and get chips made in the USofA. Any day now. Hang on, not quite yet. (BTW I wonder if they realise that this frustrating thumb-twiddling is what AUKUS is consigning us to? So I am not sorry for them but read on, there’s more to this hey?)

The government in China are a bit annoyed because the rest of the world has put a stop to advanced chips going to China to stop them advancing their defense tech too much. They can’t buy the machines from ASML because that’s embargoed too. They consider Taiwan to be part of China too. And they’d be able to get companies like TSMC (one of the biggest high-density chip foundries in the world) to produce chips for the defense force and name their price for the few chips they’d allow out.

NOW do you see why we absolutely totally 100% DO need to be there for Taiwan? It’s not because Uncle Sam needs chips. It’s because if we want a new phone or tablet or PC or anything at all really, we need Taiwan able to fulfil contracts. I can’t stress that enough, nowhere has the capacity to supply the demand that other technology companies that make all the devices – from consumer to medical to aerospace to nuclear…

The long and short of it is that if we want super-duper chips to go into those maybe-perhaps-sorta AUKUS subs someday – we NEED Taiwan independent.

The fact that the ABC wasn’t mentioning and stressing this little insignificant factoid makes me wonder where the hell they got their chops. It sure wasn’t in an kind of investigative journalism school.

I’ll mention here that it would be awesome if you’d Like and Share this post and also donated a few bucks before I add some (ChatGPT-generated) info about TSMC and ASML. If you’d like to donate please scroll ALL the way down the page and use the links down there. It will be appreciate and is necessary for me to be able to keep this site up to speed.

If you’d like to know a bit more about the immensely complicated and microscopically accurate machines and machines, read on.

Okay – here goes:

TSMC

Taiwan’s role in chip manufacturing, particularly through the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is crucial in the global tech industry. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Founding of TSMC (1987)
   TSMC was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, with the support of the Taiwanese government.
   It was the world’s first dedicated semiconductor foundry, meaning it solely manufactured chips designed by other companies rather than producing its own products.
2. Rise of TSMC (1990s-2000s)
   TSMC’s business model allowed it to focus on process innovation and manufacturing efficiency, attracting clients like NVIDIA, Apple, and AMD.
   Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, TSMC became a leader in semiconductor manufacturing, continually advancing its technology to produce smaller, more efficient, and more powerful chips.
3. Global Leadership in Semiconductors
   By the 2010s, TSMC had become the largest semiconductor foundry in the world, responsible for producing the majority of the world’s advanced chips.
   Its cutting-edge technology, including the development of 7nm and 5nm processes, positioned it as a critical player in the production of CPUs, GPUs, and other advanced electronics.
4. Geopolitical Significance
   Taiwan’s dominance in chip manufacturing, particularly through TSMC, has made it a critical player in the global supply chain.
   The geopolitical importance of Taiwan in the semiconductor industry has grown, especially as tensions between China and the U.S. have heightened. The U.S. and other nations have increasingly relied on TSMC for advanced semiconductors, raising concerns about the potential impact of any disruption to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry.
5. Global Supply Chain Concerns
   The global reliance on TSMC has led to concerns about supply chain vulnerabilities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when chip shortages impacted various industries.
   This has prompted efforts by the U.S., Europe, and other regions to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing to reduce dependence on Taiwan.
6. TSMC Today
   As of 2024, TSMC remains the leading semiconductor foundry, continuing to push the boundaries of chip technology with new process nodes like 3nm.
   The company’s significance to global technology, combined with Taiwan’s geopolitical position, ensures that TSMC will continue to play a central role in both industry and international relations.
   This overview captures the essence of TSMC’s rise and its crucial role in the global semiconductor industry.

ASML

The Dutch company ASML makes the machines that are crucial for manufacturing semiconductor chips. The machines they produce are called photolithography machines, specifically extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.

Key Points:
ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography) is the only company in the world capable of producing EUV lithography machines, which are essential for creating the most advanced semiconductor chips.
Photolithography is the process of using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically silicon, which is a crucial step in the chip manufacturing process.
EUV lithography allows for the production of extremely small and complex patterns on chips, enabling the creation of advanced chips with features as small as a few nanometers.
These machines are incredibly complex and expensive, with each EUV machine costing over $100 million, and they are essential for producing the latest generation of microchips used in smartphones, computers, and other advanced technologies.

Okay – a bit further down, the links to donate…