[GK3]

I think this also illustrates the problem with moving critical factories out of the countries within the treaty zone.  You can't suddenly go to war and be totally dependent on counties 1,000 of miles away for your critical chips, rare earth minerals and other items you have to have to make modern war materials.  Even worse when you are dependent on a possible opponent's country for stuff you need.  The amount of basic electronic stuff needed to field today's military must be staggering.

+1000. Even getting things from inside the treaty zone can be difficult as the nations involved limit exports to hedge against shortages. Another "hidden" problem is that materials that are not actually part of the final product but that are required to produce it come from outside the West. Sometimes these items are reagents or chemicals, sometimes they are tooling, like electric motors or CNC machines. The tooling is often critical when production needs to be increased rapidly, like in war.

Intel's commitment to bringing chip production back to the USA is important.  The number of new auto plants being built can be converted to other type of vehicle production far faster than building a new factory.  We have been terribly dependent on China for lithium but now seem to getting some significant production here at home, particularly if the last regulatory hurdles for LAC's proposed mine in Nevada.  It takes a lot of time and money to undo past mistakes, or miscalculations.

[GK3]

I think this also illustrates the problem with moving critical factories out of the countries within the treaty zone.  You can't suddenly go to war and be totally dependent on counties 1,000 of miles away for your critical chips, rare earth minerals and other items you have to have to make modern war materials.  Even worse when you are dependent on a possible opponent's country for stuff you need.  The amount of basic electronic stuff needed to field today's military must be staggering.

+1000. Even getting things from inside the treaty zone can be difficult as the nations involved limit exports to hedge against shortages. Another "hidden" problem is that materials that are not actually part of the final product but that are required to produce it come from outside the West. Sometimes these items are reagents or chemicals, sometimes they are tooling, like electric motors or CNC machines. The tooling is often critical when production needs to be increased rapidly, like in war.

Intel's commitment to bringing chip production back to the USA is important.  The number of new auto plants being built can be converted to other type of vehicle production far faster than building a new factory.  We have been terribly dependent on China for lithium but now seem to getting some significant production here at home, particularly if the last regulatory hurdles for LAC's proposed mine in Nevada.  It takes a lot of time and money to undo past mistakes, or miscalculations.