Texas Instruments’ new plants where Apple will make iPhone chips

Government subsidies, equity, and state ownership

• Strong disagreement over whether CHIPS Act money should come with ownership stakes.
• One camp: grants are to “buy” a domestic chip industry; equity or bailouts distort markets and risk conflicts of interest, corruption, and regulatory capture.
• Another camp: giving “stupidly large” sums to profitable firms without equity is a taxpayer giveaway; some support government taking shares or stronger conditions.
• Ohio’s constitutional ban on state equity/credit in private firms is cited as a model to avoid financial risk and corruption, though workarounds via “development corporations” exist.

Industrial policy, national security, and self‑sufficiency

• One side argues chips are strategically like agriculture: you must be able to meet minimal domestic needs in a crisis, even if production is uncompetitive without subsidies.
• Critics say this logic can justify protectionism in “everything,” reduces aggregate output, and often creates crony, inefficient industries; comparative advantage and global supply chains matter.
• Debate over how risky it really is to rely on allies like Canada/Mexico, with some claiming war is essentially implausible in 100 years and others calling that hubristic.
• Russia’s ability to produce basic missiles under sanctions is used to argue that even legacy chips suffice for many military needs and emergency ramp‑up is feasible.

TI’s role, process nodes, and what “matters”

• Several comments clarify that TI’s core business is analog and mixed‑signal parts; calculators and MSP430s are a tiny share of revenue, though probably high margin.
• Skepticism that TI will or can compete with TSMC/Samsung at leading nodes; these Sherman fabs target 45–130 nm, which some see as underwhelming but others note are the “boring” chips in everything from cars to appliances.

Sites, water, and environment

• Concern about siting fabs in water‑stressed Texas/Arizona; Sherman’s draw on Lake Texoma is highlighted, with claims the fab nearly doubles city water use.
• Counterpoints: Texas is large, eastern reservoirs like Texoma are often full, and fab water is heavily recycled, though not perfectly and with potential wastewater issues.

Politics of CHIPS/IRA and regional siting

• Discussion on why investment clusters in red states: claims of faster permitting, weaker regulation, cheaper land and labor, and business‑friendly politics versus claims that it’s primarily political allocation of federal funds.
• Some note backlash in parts of the Midwest to foreign (especially Chinese/Korean) investors despite promised jobs, seeing this as driven by xenophobic or conspiratorial politics.

Free market vs managed economy and labels

• Many see CHIPS and forced deals (e.g., mooted Intel–TSMC tie‑ups) as “Soviet‑style” or fascistic state–corporate collusion; others counter that the U.S. has long been a mixed, heavily regulated economy, not pure capitalism.
• Disputes over the correctness of calling this “socialism” vs “authoritarian capitalism” vs “fascism,” with some emphasizing suppression of labor and corporate favoritism over ideology.

Terminology, calculators, and transparency

• Multiple nitpicks about “fabric” vs “factory/fab” in the title.
• Side thread on whether graphing calculators are still mandatory in U.S. schools and the evolution of TI calculators.
• Some frustration that major industrial policy decisions, tariffs, and corporate aid appear to be made with little transparent debate or congressional constraint.