> chip fab in Arizona, thousands of miles from the assembly lines where the chips will be used
1. Chips have a very high $/kg density, so logistics isn't go to change unit economics a lot.
2. These assembly lines are much easier to construct than chip fabs, so if there is any reason to keep the two close, it's not going to be a problem anyway.
> logistics isn't go to change unit economics a lot
Doesn't the shipping time matter, though? And haven't we recently seen that long supply lines are brittle?
> These assembly lines are much easier to construct than chip fabs, so if there is any reason to keep the two close
I was thinking also in terms of the scale of people required to operate them, plus the transport etc. infrastructure to keep them running. All that, and a hypothetical US factory would have labor costs 5x or higher. That would seem to make it an emergency-only scenario?
I just don't see the scenario where such a fab would make economic sense.
1. Chips have a very high $/kg density, so logistics isn't go to change unit economics a lot. 2. These assembly lines are much easier to construct than chip fabs, so if there is any reason to keep the two close, it's not going to be a problem anyway.