标题: IBM’s Vermont Fab and Politics; Don’t Mess With Vermont [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 11-1-2014 08:22 标题: IBM’s Vermont Fab and Politics; Don’t Mess With Vermont Tim McQuiston, McQuiston: GlobalFoundries. Vermont Public Radio, Oct 31, 2014.
digital.vpr.net/post/mcquiston-globalfoundries
Quote:
"IBM was losing big money on its semiconductor unit and unlike GlobalFoundries, which is the second largest chip manufacturer [foundry, actually; In terms of revenue, Intel's 2 1/2 times as big as TSMC for the entire 2013--but dropped to twice in 3Q14] in the world, IBM does many other things and is no longer a major player in the chip world.
"do not underestimate this aspect of it, Vermont has two US Senators, who can either be happy about what happens, or angry. Even if the Democrats lose the Senate this year, Vermont’s Patrick Leahy is still in a powerful position, and has been a major benefactor of IBM.
"the Vermont plant has been designated a 'Trusted Foundry' by the United States government. * * * GlobalFoundries is a privately held company that's owned by a company that's owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The secure federal contracts [such as defense ones] must be done by American companies. Leahy can help influence whether GlobalFoundries is regarded as American enough.
"When IBM came up with the idea of using semiconductors for memory in the 1960s, it chose Vermont to make and further develop the new product. The Vermont plant peaked in the early 1990s and it became 'The Memory Capital of the World.'
Note:
(a) Don't Mess with Texas
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Mess_with_Texas
(In 1985 the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) asked Mike Blair and Tim McClure of GSD&M to create a slogan for an anti-littering campaign)
(b) "Clearly this transaction [that IBM recently sold semiconductor arm to GlobalFoundries] is not the worst-case scenario. IBM could have just decided to shutter the place and then dealt with the cost and the legal blowback. But that, despite recent cynicism, is not the IBM ethos."
(i) blowback (n; First Known Use 1973): "an unforeseen and unwanted effect, result, or set of repercussions" www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blowback
(ii) blowback (n): "also blow-back, 1883, in reference to flames in enclosed spaces (firearms, furnaces, etc), from blow (v.1) + back (adv.). Sense in reference to convert actions, etc, is from 1978” www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Blowback
(iii) blowback (intelligence)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowback_(intelligence)
(Blowback is unintended consequences of a covert operation that are suffered by the aggressor; was CIA internal coinage)