• zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    The west still exports a ton of technology

    Even that has been changing. The US hasn't been a net-exporter of processing chips since COVID struck. China is approaching parity with the US (assuming they haven't eclipsed us already) and India isn't far behind. California's position as a tech hub is being eclipsed by its roll in FIRE, which makes sense because that's where all the money's at. The US simply does not reward technological innovation. We outsource that shit.

    it's unlikely that they'll be able to be completely self sufficient to the point that no one relies on the west.

    It is the western states that are ultimately unable to be self-sufficient. That's why the US is so panicked over Taiwan. Their semiconductor industry is the lynchpin of our tech sector. We can't even make cars when Taiwan Semiconductor misses its production quotas.

    • RyanGosling [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The US is not exporting chips, but it controls European countries that export chip technology (manufacturing and embedded parts). They prevented Scandinavian countries (forget which ones) from sending them to China, hence the shock of the breakthrough with their phones a couple months back

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        it controls European countries that export chip technology

        Sure. Because outsourcing is cheaper. But that's also what creates the risk of losing your satraps.

        They prevented Scandinavian countries (forget which ones) from sending them to China, hence the shock of the breakthrough with their phones a couple months back

        And the Ukraine-Russia war was a big win for NATO in so far as it tightened control over the Scandinavian states. But due to their physical proximity to Russia and their reliance on cheap raw material imports (which the Russians have in droves, but the Southern/Western Europeans don't), this is still a relatively precarious situation. Had the US simply maintained/developed their domestic chip markets, they wouldn't be freaking out every time a war threatens to erupt in the periphery.

        I would say that the US firms is far more exposed to the threat of shortages and supply disruptions to critical tech infrastructure than their Chinese (and South Korean) peers.