Computer chips, is the UK missing a trick?

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The high value and margin is in the intellectual property and design. Software is also vastly more profitable than hardware.

The Silicon Valley model is to own the whole supply chain. (E.g Tesla) but that doesn’t mean independent battery tech can’t thrive. I’m not sure it will however.
 
A Yamaha YDS-150 Digital saxophone had a five month delivery lead time when I placed my order.
The long lead time was due to the chip shortage.
Another six weeks yet.
 
There were some real deal semiconductor plants in Scotland. Foreign owned but no idea what happened to them or if they have been kept up to date
I worked at one of them back in the 90s, Motorola, American owned. They were a decent enough company to work for, good salary at the time, biannual bonus and great canteen! I didn't work there long though as the 12 hour continental shift pattern wasn't for me.

I think there was a sort of boom and bust of these plants in Scotland. The 90s were the boom time I suppose, then taking Motorola as an example, come early 00's they started to withdraw from Scotland and their plants were closed. I think they started to withdraw from other countries as well, so was likely part of a global restructure. Hyundai built a huge plant in Dunfermline that was ultimately never used by them. Motorola bought it but never utilised it if I recall correctly.
 
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A Yamaha YDS-150 Digital saxophone had a five month delivery lead time when I placed my order.
The long lead time was due to the chip shortage.
Another six weeks yet.
I never knew there was such a thing as a digital saxophone

I guess its an instrument for practicing fingering but not embouchure.

I only know a bit about it because my wife plays and teaches the saxophone -she plays a Selmer Alto
 
Not so much call for valves and transistors these days.


Of course there is...transistors are in everything and there's always been a demand for those that want the valve sound.
Classic valves are reproduced by many manufacturers today and there's a vast no. of manufacturers producing valve equipment.
Specialist valves are commonly used in high power RF/TV.
 
Yeah, we sold our success to the highest bidder.

We don't make computers anymore, do we? No phones, no PCs, no consoles. Amstrad, Acorn, Spectrum, BBC Micro, Arm, all gone.

Well, we still have Raspberry Pi.
 
Of course there is...transistors are in everything and there's always been a demand for those that want the valve sound.
Classic valves are reproduced by many manufacturers today and there's a vast no. of manufacturers producing valve equipment.
Specialist valves are commonly used in high power RF/TV.

I was thinking a little more mainstream. Not sure that the yoof care much for the subtleties of valve sound quality over that of their MP3s, etc. Is high power RF/TV mass market?
 
The high value and margin is in the intellectual property and design. Software is also vastly more profitable than hardware.

The Silicon Valley model is to own the whole supply chain. (E.g Tesla) but that doesn’t mean independent battery tech can’t thrive. I’m not sure it will however.

Having worked in manufacture and watched it's decline. I have heard about high added value and intellectual property and the other ones flexible manufacture and productivity.

The problem with high added value is everyone wants it. Intellectual property is an odd ball. Patents for instance are often taken out to hold back the competition. It's not easy to take out truly water tight ones but they can be used for legal purposes to delay others. History shows that countries grow via manufacture. Birmingham came about by flooding the world with pen nibs for instance. Manufacture tends to shift to countries were costs are lowest and can also according to some locations of the materials needed. A lot of ICI's business was pole axed due to this. Harvey-Jones standard answer to just about any business is can't compete so import. In terms of returns and risk he is likely to be correct.

So a country is making and as a result more jobs and increasing living standards so prices go up. Work shifts as it has with clothing. S Korea starts making expensive cars and other things. Japan is another one who now has stuff made elsewhere. Taiwan went out of the cheap source phase long ago. Japan can be seen as having more problems now than it did have and Taiwan could be getting there too. ;) They have an interesting idea about unemployment. Support providing people are training to do something else but they have a large yearly influx of migrants. They appear to remain while they are needed. They have an NHS of sorts but seems to be running into problems as the tax to cover it needs to be increased. May be true or may not be.

Must admit I thought batteries are an odd thing to choose especially when the number of jobs was mentioned. It's likely to be a process industry. Raw materials go in and a product comes out. Cadbury is one. They do not spin off as many jobs as say a Uk Toyota car does who's parts are virtually all sourced locally other than materials. To sell into the EU the battery needs to be made here or in the EU. I can't see the EU sitting on it's backside in this area or any other country. I can't see the cars turning out as envisaged either. An exaggeration from an national grid man - each car is the same as adding a house to it. No one can afford to upgrade the grid. The brief on the money going into one factory is to develop the batteries such that they last longer. Something all will be trying to do. Not everybody is capable of being a rocket scientist. What about the rest?

:eek:The gov put $120m into the Delorean project. 1978 values hoping to reduce unemployment in N Ireland.

I've started looking at Brexit money. 5year average from the NOS. £7.8b net, £5.6b back in various ways. Looks like ~£1b pure levelling up but little in England. As some say in Stoke on Trent they are forgotten. I'm wondering where the 7.8 is going.
 
I never knew there was such a thing as a digital saxophone

I guess its an instrument for practicing fingering but not embouchure.

I only know a bit about it because my wife plays and teaches the saxophone -she plays a Selmer Alto
It's not been out long.
Yes the fingering is identical, but there is slight differences in the embouchure. The reed supplied is plastic, and such techniques as vibrato, bending of notes, growling while blowing, etc are not possible. There is an additional key for vibrato and note bending.
Normal mouthpieces and reeds can be used, but do not change the abilities of the instrument.

The major benefit from my point of view is that the one instrument can be set to accompany other instruments, with simple settings. Although teaching of vibrato, and other techniques do require the real thing.
E.g. when teaching alto, the instrument can be set to play alto, when teaching tenor, the instrument can be set for tenor. Similarly for soprano and baritone. So one instrument is needed instead of four for accompanying students on various instruments.
Another major benefit for me, due to my age, is the playing of baritone parts. A baritone player will appreciate the length of sustained phrases played on a baritone with the same amount of breath pressure and volume required as an alto.
The higher the instrument in the range, the greater the blowing pressure, but the lower the volume of air required.
Thus for an alto player, a sustained 16 bars of Harlem Nocturne is easily possible. It's impossible on a baritone without circular breathing, (not that it's required in Harlem Nocturne, but it is undoubtedly in some Gerry Mulligan pieces). And circular breathing invariably affects the tone.
Also the weight of a baritone round the neck is substantial for long periods of time. The YDS-150 is similar to a soprano saxophone.
Additionally, during rehearsals, etc, if one saxophone (or any other instrument) voice is absent, it's easy to fill in that absent voice without the need for transposing.
It's also cheaper than a new Yamaha Alto (the cheapest of the range).

I'm now waiting for the clarinet version to become available. :whistle:
 
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The North Tyneside fab..

I wasn't too happy about the quote I posted with chip counts and numbers as would much rather see a list so I could see what they actually do. Why. There is a term line width that is used by fabricators. View it as the size of internal wires. It sets how big a chip is which in turn sets how many can be produced on a wafer. The size of that can vary.

Only way I can simply explain it. I recollect Trump banning the export of USA kit to China to try and hold them back in this area. Rumour has it that they just started buying as much as possible from elsewhere but will no doubt be working on their own.
 
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