| ▲ | jiggawatts an hour ago | |||||||
> Nothing hampers solar, wind, and batteries though; For now. The majority of solar panels are made in China (85%), and they plan to invade Taiwan in just a few years, possibly as soon as 2027, at which point either we let them take control of AI chip production or defend Taiwan and cut ourselves off from the source of almost all manufactured products, and especially solar panels. | ||||||||
| ▲ | PorciiVorbesc an hour ago | parent | next [-] | |||||||
>and they plan to invade Taiwan in just a few years Can you share your sources for that valuable intelligence? Military analysts would really be interested to learn that. Or is that form the same manufactured scaremongering genre as "Iran is 6 weeks away from building nuclear weapons" and "Iraq has WMDs" to justify endless defense spending, military interventions and warmongering. > at which point either we let them take control of AI chip production You can't just commandeer semi fabs like you're carjacking a Hyundai for a joyride. Semi fabs need constant parts and on-prem staff and always-on telemetry from ASML & friends to run. If that's gone, you're left with a very expensive warehouse that can't do shit. | ||||||||
| ▲ | seanmcdirmid an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | |||||||
Taiwan cannot make chips without western inputs and spare parts, so China taking over Taiwan or Korea or Japan doesn’t really give them access to making those chips. | ||||||||
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| ▲ | rainsford 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | |||||||
But the solar panels we already have don't suddenly stop working, which is an important difference between sourcing solar panels from a potential enemy and sourcing raw fossil fuels from one. There's also nothing stopping the US or other trading partners from making solar panels, China is just the most convenient and cheapest source as it is for many other things. And to that point, the end of trade between the US and China would be incredibly damaging to both countries whether or not we buy solar panels from them now. | ||||||||
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