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0 pointshappymellon1y ago0 comments

Because RISC V results would be something the Europeans could produce?

We are reliant on the US as only 2 companies can make the x86/64 chips. I don't think Europe would be completely against working with a US or Chinese company like Hi Five/Star Five, as long as we weren't dependent on them, and could pull ties if they abused their position of control.

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XorNot1y ago

Isn't the supplier of lithography machines for TSMC Dutch?

While that's not the entire process, and it would be a 20 year endeavour, it seems like funding the development of local capability here would be eminently doable.

Europe is also the current heavy hitter for fundamental physics research, so attracting talent and maintaining an ecosystem should be much more achievable.

gmueckl1y ago

Most of the machines for the rest of the process also come out of Europe. Building the factories wouldn't be all that hard. Actually developing and running a full production sub-10nm process is a different beast entirely.

omnimus1y ago

Manufacturing the processor itself is different issue from what architecture that processor will be. If Europe produces any consumer processors like that it wont be x86. It will be Risc-V (maybe arm? its UK but owned by Softbank so nope)

matt-p1y ago

Just because SoftBank own it now, do you really think if Europe went to it and said "can we buy half, if so we'll buy $X amount of licences otherwise we'll start (effectively) a serious competitor in risc-v.

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mahkeiro1y ago

STmicro is producing chips at around 14-18nm. ASML is the one producing the leading lithography machine, and we are not talking about ARM, Infineon or NXP. Europe has the capacity to produce their own processors if needed.

cynusx1y ago

Exactly, it's just that producing them in the EU is a lot more expensive.

On this, Trump's policy of putting tariffs on chips manufactured in Taiwan makes sense to make it worthwhile to put the fabs in Europe.

_w1tm1y ago

> We are reliant on the US as only 2 companies can make the x86/64 chips.

The x86-64 architecture is on its way out globally thanks to Arm. RISC V is not needed for decoupling from the US.

bitmasher91y ago

ARM is owned by SoftBank, and you need to deal with them for licensing. While SoftBank is not based in the US, the amount they have invested in the US and US based companies means they are very coupled with US. Investing in ARM technology would have a stronger coupling than investing in RISC V.

This wouldn’t be true if Europe was more willing to abandon international copyright laws, but given the amount of IP they own they are unlikely to.

happymellonOP1y ago

Arm is not a trustworthy partner.

Otherwise they would be more than happy to renegotiate chip licences if they feel that companies have overstepped.

Instead they publicly litigate and demand destruction of all designs.

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