How Do Big Enough Bills Get Passed to Reduce Reliance
Transcript
Justin : So tell me a little bit about the lobbying process on this bill. Is this, you know, the mining industry and the auto industry and everybody coming together to lobby for this bill? Or how did that look?n
nLewis : Well, I mean, there is a push to a green push to a greener future. So that this is the sort of focus, I think of governments. And, for instance, an Eevee uses roughly two times the number of semiconductors than a regular vehicle. So by this very push, you’re actually, you know, exacerbating the problem, because not only do you have shortages, you’re increasing those shortages, because you’re pushing people into vehicles that need double the number about 2000 semiconductors per EV. thereabouts. n
nWell, I think also, semiconductors are, as I said, technically very advanced, it’s a very sexy thing to talk about. Because it’s incredible. It’s this tiny little thing that does so much. The brains have an EV. It’s the brains, it’s the brains of your laptop or your TV or your fridge. It’s the size, tiny little wafer thing that is so important. And so for a politician, it’s a really easy thing to talk about, because everyone ultimately thinks they understand what a semiconductor is. n
nSo of course, I think the lobbying was more from government rather than from outside sources, lobbying governments for yeah, so an opportunity to say, u201cyou know what, we’re going to throw some money at thisu201d, but then put it in perspective. In South Korea, they announced I think about six months ago, five months ago, they were going to push over the next 10 years 350 billion into increasing this industry, not government industry was going to put 350 billion to work to produce it to increase the capacity for semiconductor production. So 52 billion, it seems like a lot of money. But for these plants, it’s not really going to move the needle.n
nKelly :nYeah. Oh, wow. Question that everybody’s asking. And this is probably the most important one. How many syllables are in the word semiconductor?n
nLewis :nTo be honest, I only have 10 fingers, so I couldn’t.n
nKelly :nThat’s why politicians say it as much as they can. So I know the House asked for far more than the Senate was willing to get. So that 52 billion is just a compromise, is it? It’s not even been passed yet. But do you think they’re gonna just pretty much stay at 52 billion, or will it actually go up at all?n
nLewis :nWell, the question is, what do they do with that? 52 billion? Yeah, the United States traditionally, was the big semiconductor producer back in the day. Most of the semiconductors on the planet were being produced in the United States. It was another industry that sort of migrated away, because the levels of investment required to stay at the cutting edge are vast. And there were other things to do in the United States. So like mining, mining, back in the day, 60s and 70s. Us was, was an extraordinarily dominant mining, you know, country, in a democracy no longer. So is this 52 billion is going to be used to attract Taiwanese South Korean companies to open up in the United States. Is it going to develop an American owned approach? I mean, it hasn’t really been fully defined yet what the 52 billion is for so that’s going to be interesting to see how that evolves.n
nLewis : Well, I mean, there is a push to a green push to a greener future. So that this is the sort of focus, I think of governments. And, for instance, an Eevee uses roughly two times the number of semiconductors than a regular vehicle. So by this very push, you’re actually, you know, exacerbating the problem, because not only do you have shortages, you’re increasing those shortages, because you’re pushing people into vehicles that need double the number about 2000 semiconductors per EV. thereabouts. n
nWell, I think also, semiconductors are, as I said, technically very advanced, it’s a very sexy thing to talk about. Because it’s incredible. It’s this tiny little thing that does so much. The brains have an EV. It’s the brains, it’s the brains of your laptop or your TV or your fridge. It’s the size, tiny little wafer thing that is so important. And so for a politician, it’s a really easy thing to talk about, because everyone ultimately thinks they understand what a semiconductor is. n
nSo of course, I think the lobbying was more from government rather than from outside sources, lobbying governments for yeah, so an opportunity to say, u201cyou know what, we’re going to throw some money at thisu201d, but then put it in perspective. In South Korea, they announced I think about six months ago, five months ago, they were going to push over the next 10 years 350 billion into increasing this industry, not government industry was going to put 350 billion to work to produce it to increase the capacity for semiconductor production. So 52 billion, it seems like a lot of money. But for these plants, it’s not really going to move the needle.n
nKelly :nYeah. Oh, wow. Question that everybody’s asking. And this is probably the most important one. How many syllables are in the word semiconductor?n
nLewis :nTo be honest, I only have 10 fingers, so I couldn’t.n
nKelly :nThat’s why politicians say it as much as they can. So I know the House asked for far more than the Senate was willing to get. So that 52 billion is just a compromise, is it? It’s not even been passed yet. But do you think they’re gonna just pretty much stay at 52 billion, or will it actually go up at all?n
nLewis :nWell, the question is, what do they do with that? 52 billion? Yeah, the United States traditionally, was the big semiconductor producer back in the day. Most of the semiconductors on the planet were being produced in the United States. It was another industry that sort of migrated away, because the levels of investment required to stay at the cutting edge are vast. And there were other things to do in the United States. So like mining, mining, back in the day, 60s and 70s. Us was, was an extraordinarily dominant mining, you know, country, in a democracy no longer. So is this 52 billion is going to be used to attract Taiwanese South Korean companies to open up in the United States. Is it going to develop an American owned approach? I mean, it hasn’t really been fully defined yet what the 52 billion is for so that’s going to be interesting to see how that evolves.n