Comments by "LRRPFco52" (@LRRPFco52) on "China, Navy, Nukes, Tech, and Politics || Peter Zeihan" video.

@TrendyStone Ditto. I've been in DoD aerospace on developmental and operational programs since the 1970s. I've tracked security of supply and strategic materials acquisitions and dispersments for generations now. Silicon Valley and other locations in the US are where the high-end chip technology is pioneered, developed, and produced. For military applications, we're looking at several different types of chips, not just processors in boards, but high performance SCs in sensors. You're confusing high performance chips necessary for the latest handheld devices with boards used in the quad-computing bank of the F-35's CNI, as well as the TRMs in the AESA and other antennae distributed throughout the airframe. These are entirely different chips when talking about iPhones vs what goes in F-35s. You actually don't need the latest high performance boards for the quad bank in JSF because you don't have the volume constraints of a handheld, and you have more volume and materials at your disposal to mitigate thermodynamics in the CNI. Civilian handheld electronics also don't need GaA or GaN TRMs, and don't have access to the security of supply in that space for those. Telecom uses some of that for antennae, but there are different supply tracks and DoD has priority on those radiating/receiver elements.
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@TrendyStone Have you heard of Berry Amendment compliance and US SC companies that have DoD security of supply contracts? They don't even allow Chinese raw metals into the supply stream for those programs. There have been 2 instances in the F-35 program where it was discovered that downstream raw materials suppliers acquired Chinese alloy and magnets for some very simple components, and there were harsh penalties. The semiconductors are US-made.
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@TrendyStone The US manufactures high-end and DoD contract chips in Silicon Valley, Silicon Slopes, and other SC plants in the US. Taiwan does not have a monopoly on SC manufacturing. A big problem people have is thinking that the commercial sector is the same as DoD. They are parallel sectors, with entirely different supply chains and sources subject to Berry Amendment compliance. This applies to boots, uniforms, gloves, vehicles, tires, lubricants, pallets, small arms, aircraft, missiles, and all the subcomponents. Every single subcomponent in a DoD contract has to have a Technical Data Package with security of supply and strategic materials compliance certification process. It's nothing like the commercial sector. So when you hear someone talk about chips from Taiwan in M-1 Abrams tanks and F-35s, you realize that source isn't remotely aware of how DoD supply side works.
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@TrendyStone It’s as if Intel and Micron don’t exist. People read headlines on the internet and think they understand the manufacturing base for DoD programs, while those of us who have been intimately involved with them for generations just look at these claims and chuckle. These industrial bases pre-date anything in any other country and are where the technologies are pioneered. US SCs are the highest value chips in the world for this reason, not some copycat factory cranking out parts for commercial PCs and personal devices for consumers. The JSF supplier ecosystem is much different than most people even in aerospace are aware of. Canada has more companies involved with the supply side than Canadians even know, let alone Norway, Italy, Japan, UK, etc. UK makes 15% of every F-35, including the ejection seats. Which specific F-35 program SCs do you think are made in Taiwan?
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@TrendyStone Again, name me the SCs you think are coming from Taiwan and which subsystems they populate in any F-35. See how you switched the conversation from "F-35s can't be built without Taiwanese chips." to, "some imbecile thinks Intel has been surpassed"? I would highly recommend taking a formal course on critical thinking if you want to enhance your AeroE and Masters in ....what was it again?
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