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qwertox 6 hours ago

How high are the chances that as soon as China produces their own competitive TPU/GPU, they'll invade Taiwan in order to starve the West in regards to processing power, while at the same time getting an exclusive grip on the Taiwanese Fabs?

CuriouslyC 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The US would destroy TSMC before letting China have it. China also views military conquest of Taiwan as less than ideal for a number of reasons, so I think right now it's seen as a potential defensive move in the face of American aggression.

bryanlarsen 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

China will invade Taiwan when they start losing, not when they're increasingly winning.

As long as "tomorrow" is a better day to invade Taiwan than today is, China will wait for tomorrow.

Xss3 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Their demographics beg to differ.

bryanlarsen 4 hours ago | parent [-]

If demographics were a big deal, it'd be part of the same "better to invade today or tomorrow" calculation.

Zeihan's predictions on China have been fabulously wrong for 20+ years now.

A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Seems low at the moment with the concept of G2 being floated as generic understanding of China's ascension to where Russia used to be effectively recreating bipolar semi cold war world order. Mind, I am not saying impossible, but there are reasons China would want to avoid this scenario ( probably one of the few things US would not tolerate and would likely retaliate ).

hjouneau 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If they have the fabs but ASML doesn't send them their new machines, they will just end up in the same situation as now, just one generation later. If China wants to compete, they need to learn how to make the EUV light and mirrors.

Xss3 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The fabs would be destroyed in such a situation. The wesr would absolutely play that card in negotiations.

gostsamo 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not very. Those fabs are vulnerable things, shame if something happens to them. If China attacks, it would be for various other reasons and processors are only one of many considerations, no matter how improbable it might sound to an HN-er.

qwertox 6 hours ago | parent [-]

What if China becomes self-sufficient enough to no longer rely on Taiwanese Fabs, and hence having no issues with those Fabs getting destroyed. That would put China as the leader once and for all.

gostsamo 6 hours ago | parent [-]

First, the US has advanced fab capabilities and in case of a need can develop them further. On the other side, China will suffer a Russia style blockback while caught up in a nasty war with Taiwan.

Totally possible, but the second order effects are much more complex than "leader once for all". The path for victory for China is not war despite the west, but a war when the west would not care.

the_af 6 hours ago | parent [-]

The best path for victory for China is probably no war at all. War is wasteful and risky.

GordonS 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Highly unlikely. Despite the rampant anti-Chinese FUD that's so prevalent in the media (and, sadly, here on HN), China isn't really in the habit of invading other lands.

CuriouslyC 6 hours ago | parent [-]

The plot twist here is that China doesn't view Taiwan as foreign.

the_af 6 hours ago | parent [-]

But China also doesn't see war as the best path forward in Taiwan (they want to return it to the mainland, not lay waste to it). The grandparent comment is unfairly downvoted in my opinion, the fact remains modern China is far less likely to be involved in military campaigns than, say, the US.