US Tells Chip Manufacturers to Prepare for Not Getting Materials from Russia

War with Russia might finish off our economy totally.

But we have to do it to protect the values of democracy.

Reuters:

The White House is warning the chip industry to diversify its supply chain in case Russia retaliates against threatened U.S. export curbs by blocking access to key materials, people familiar with the matter said.

The potential for retaliation has garnered more attention in recent days after Techcet, a market research group, published a report on Feb. 1 highlighting the reliance of many semiconductor manufacturers on Russian and Ukrainian-sourced materials like neon, palladium and others.

According to Techcet estimates, over 90% of U.S. semiconductor-grade neon supplies come from Ukraine, while 35% of U.S. palladium is sourced from Russia.

Peter Harrell, who sits of the White House’s National Security Council, and his staff have been in touch with members of the chip industry in recent days, learning about their exposure to Russian and Ukrainian chipmaking materials and urging them to find alternative sources, the people said.

The White House declined to comment on the specifics of the conversations, but a senior official reiterated that the administration was prepared if Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Part of that is working with companies to make sure that if Russia takes actions that interfere with supply chains, companies are prepared for disruptions,” the person said.

I wish we could get a poll on how many people can find Ukraine on a map.

Or know the history of the alleged country.

The big problem with democracy is that the population is not involved in the process of governing in any way.