Post #3676395

2026-07-08 08:29 UTC

@deFractal@infosec.exchange Perhaps the entire industry made a wrong turn. The equipment for making chips is now so expensive that very few can afford to buy it. The reason for that high cost is the difficulty in using light to print the patterns on the silicon. The alternative is to use electron beam lithography. This is not used by the big manufacturers because it is too slow. However, if we could create a small electron beam based machine that could create chips on demand that sold for a few thousand dollars (the machine, not the chips) there would soon be enough of them to satisfy any demand. The actual processing is not too difficult - I have seen videos of hobbyists doing it in their shed.

Replies (2)

@deFractal@infosec.exchange 2026-07-08 16:58

@ocratato@discuss.systems The equipment for making chips is now so expensive that very few can afford to buy it. That is why I suggested a nation-state do it. I'd buy RAM and SSDs from Chips Canada, if it were to exist. (Or from an analogous company created by any trading partner in the blocs #Canada is joining or starting in response to the US trade war.) So would many individuals and small businesses here. So would our schools and hospitals, municipalities and utilities. So would the #CAF (our military) and the #RCMP (our federal police), as would our #nationalSecurity intelligence services. And so would heavy industry in sectors critical to the Canadian economy, for whom I know first-hand the current prices of RAM and SSDs directly contributing to suspension of operation at some plants and to minimizing of staffing at others. I had one recent contract, at a major producer of a leading Canadian export, which included my salvaging DDR3 from PCs planned for disposal. DDR3.

Open ##3676394
@deFractal@infosec.exchange 2026-07-08 17:04

@ocratato@discuss.systems The equipment for making chips is now so expensive that very few can afford to buy it. That is why I suggested a nation-state do it. I'd buy RAM and SSDs from Chips Canada, if it were to exist. (Or from an analogous company created by any trading partner in the blocs #Canada is joining or starting in response to the US trade war.) So would many individuals and small businesses here. So would our schools and hospitals, municipalities and utilities. So would the #CAF (our military) and the #RCMP (our federal police), as would our #nationalSecurity intelligence services. And so would heavy industry in sectors critical to the Canadian economy, for whom I know first-hand the current prices of RAM and SSDs directly contributing to suspension of operation at some plants and to minimizing of staffing at others. I had one recent contract, at a major producer of a leading Canadian export, which included my salvaging DDR3 from PCs planned for disposal. DDR3. #techPolicy #digitalAutonomy #digitalSovereignty #economicSecurity #sovereignty

Open ##3676502