Ask HN: Why hasn't x86 caught up with Apple M series?

Why do people think the world’s second largest economy (largest by PPP) can’t build its own semiconductor industry? Of course, it’ll be difficult but China has shown that it can play the long game.

credit_guy · 8h ago

Even if they couldn't get to parity with the West (ASML + TSMC + NVIDIA), the article starts with the admission that SIMC is already producing chips that are only one or 2 generations behind the state of the art. They can rely on sheer quantity to offset the quality gap. All it takes is enough energy to keep the datacenters running, and China installs more solar power and more nuclear power every year than the rest of the world combined.

melling · 8h ago

Don’t want to focus on the corporate espionage too much but even a little combined with getting a piece of the global semiconductor market should be sufficient to bootstrap China onto the global stage.

Similar to how China is exporting EVs globally while the US has effectively banned them.

If Europe, etc starts to purchase Chinese semiconductors, non-Chinese revenue will shrink.

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