Semiconductor fab capital-cost escalation

Third example in Tom's national-investment series — 10–20 billion dollars for a sub-micron fab. Intel "probably built the last one"; the industry has since restructured into partnerships. ## Figures referenced (not cases)

It's the same in other industries. It's the same in aerospace. There's only two competitors, Airbus and Boeing. Neither one of them can afford the 10 or 20 billion dollar investment to build a new jetliner like the Dreamliner. They get all kinds of government subsidies, and the politicians on both sides of the Atlantic argue that you're giving unfair competition advantage to your aircraft industry. They are, they're doing it, but there's only two companies there. Same thing in semiconductors. You want to build a new super sub-micron-size semiconductor fab? 10 or 20 billion dollars. Intel probably built the last one, but now they're parsing and breaking up the industry in different ways so no company today has the profitability in semiconductors to build a 10 billion dollar fab. We are getting to economies of productivity and scale that really require national investments — like POSCO Steel, or 20 other steel companies that have been built in the last 40 years, built by countries. Or in the case of aircraft, just pure government collusion and fighting among the politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Or in the semiconductor business they sort of restructured things in partnering because of these huge investments.