[fullmetal]

Very true!  And they also need advanced chips to create their machines...those are in short supply too.

Ironically enough, the specific sorts of chips required to get the US automotive industry rolling again are made very old, legacy nodes.  The issue is that the older node technology fab capacity has maxed out, and while it's possible to qualify newer tools to fab older designs, the financials don't work out since newer chips provide way more margin than older chips.  Basically, there's no financial incentive for a fab to build older chips.  We can surmise that automotive chip vendors are either unable to or unwilling to make these contracts happen.  (Secondarily, the lifespan of these contracts might be too short-lived, and fabs like to sign contracts that they can count on to be renewed.)

To bring this full circle, over the medium-term, we will see if Russia can continue their domestic production of modern weaponry (guided missiles, vehicles, etc) without a continued supply of semiconductors.  Switching to Chinese supply will be their only option, and I suspect that Russia will have to scramble quickly to qualify their weapons with new components (I don't imagine that they would have relied on Chinese components in the first place, but maybe I'm wrong?).

And more broadly speaking, how does Russian society operate without non-Chinese chips/technology?  Phones, computers, etc. ...if this drags out any longer, China will have a captive audience for consumer electronics.  Similarly, many south Pacific nations have a dependence on or alignment with Chinese infrastructure due to Chinese foreign policy/aid in the form of donated infrastructure and labor.

[fullmetal]

Very true!  And they also need advanced chips to create their machines...those are in short supply too.

Ironically enough, the specific sorts of chips required to get the US automotive industry rolling again are made very old, legacy nodes.  The issue is that the older node technology fab capacity has maxed out, and while it's possible to qualify newer tools to fab older designs, the financials don't work out since newer chips provide way more margin than older chips.  Basically, there's no financial incentive for a fab to build older chips.  We can surmise that automotive chip vendors are either unable to or unwilling to make these contracts happen.  (Secondarily, the lifespan of these contracts might be too short-lived, and fabs like to sign contracts that they can count on to be renewed.)

To bring this full circle, over the medium-term, we will see if Russia can continue their domestic production of modern weaponry (guided missiles, vehicles, etc) without a continued supply of semiconductors.  Switching to Chinese supply will be their only option, and I suspect that Russia will have to scramble quickly to qualify their weapons with new components (I don't imagine that they would have relied on Chinese components in the first place, but maybe I'm wrong?).

And more broadly speaking, how does Russian society operate without non-Chinese chips/technology?  Phones, computers, etc. ...if this drags out any longer, China will have a captive audience for consumer electronics.  Similarly, many south Pacific nations have a dependence on or alignment with Chinese infrastructure due to Chinese foreign policy/aid in the form of donated infrastructure and labor.