How come these dopes never consider, “Hey we should make chips here.”
Rather than find another Third World contractor to become dependent on ?
I agree, but be aware Vietnam is NOT anti-America, in fact Vietnamese public opinion about America is at the very top, of any country in the entire world.
I am slightly biased, because I live here now.
But it is truly remarkable. Despite the Vietnam war, they all are quite pro-American.
Even in Hanoi.
Second world, depending on level of industrialization.
Remember the old “world” definitions, i.e. first world = free “democratic”/republican countries, second world = communist bloc, third world = undeveloped backward countries that the second world always looks to take over for resources (and upbraids the first world for seeking to protect them from the second world). That became “developed nations” and “developing nations” after the Cold War ended, with China in the perpetual “developing nation” status.
Its very expensive to build even a low tech fab.
Normally they are abandoned or moved to very inexpensive chips.
To build a new low tech fab doesn’t make economic sense.
Today, anything larger than 180nm is considered very low tech but many are used in cars and inexpensive communications.
Chip making involves a lot of nasty chemicals. The safety and environmental requirements in free-ish societies are expensive. It is much cheaper to operate in communist countries where the environment and human life don’t matter if the rulers get more money and power. Only reason things are still made in 1st world countries is these serf nations don’t have the population of technical experts to achieve necessary quality.