I understand more bismuth mining would be needed to support price stability, but scale could mean lower prices. China has special needs in that innovation is required to escape US tyranny of global IP.
Yes, I understand that more mining could be done, but what I was saying is that I don’t think it could be sustained to the level of silicon. Bismuth is a rare mineral, and 100 times more expensive than silicon.
China is the world’s largest market for semiconductors (50% of the chips in the world are traded there), if they want to use locally produced bismuth chips they would only be able to tackle a very small fraction of that. Either they are only used in special applications (like some particular specialized hardware at smaller scale) or it would be impossible, the Earth does not have enough resources to produce bismuth chips at the same scale as silicon. So I’m not sure if it could work as serious competition to silicon.
Yes, I understand that more mining could be done, but what I was saying is that I don’t think it could be sustained to the level of silicon. Bismuth is a rare mineral, and 100 times more expensive than silicon.
Not an expert, but high purity bismuth seems 6x more expensive than high purity silicon. I could be wrong.
they would only be able to tackle a very small fraction of that.
It would be for ultra premium performance chips, which China has a low share currently.
I understand more bismuth mining would be needed to support price stability, but scale could mean lower prices. China has special needs in that innovation is required to escape US tyranny of global IP.
Yes, I understand that more mining could be done, but what I was saying is that I don’t think it could be sustained to the level of silicon. Bismuth is a rare mineral, and 100 times more expensive than silicon.
China is the world’s largest market for semiconductors (50% of the chips in the world are traded there), if they want to use locally produced bismuth chips they would only be able to tackle a very small fraction of that. Either they are only used in special applications (like some particular specialized hardware at smaller scale) or it would be impossible, the Earth does not have enough resources to produce bismuth chips at the same scale as silicon. So I’m not sure if it could work as serious competition to silicon.
But we’ll see, maybe I’m wrong.
Not an expert, but high purity bismuth seems 6x more expensive than high purity silicon. I could be wrong.
It would be for ultra premium performance chips, which China has a low share currently.