My God. I wasn't expecting things to move this quickly. For you freaks who missed Monday's rag, I wrote about the news that trickled in last weekend that the Trump administration was in discussions with semiconductor manufactures like TSMC and Samsung about bringing a fabrication factory to US soil. A move like this is imperative if the US and our neighbors in North America want to maintain any sense of autonomy when it comes to producing the technologies that make our world go round.

At the time, I thought these discussions would drag out like anything that involves the government, but hot damn! It seems like the Trump administration has a high sense of urgency to make this happen because we're just over 100 hours from the publishing of Monday's rag and a deal has been inked. TSMC will be building a fabrication plant in Arizona with construction starting in 2021. This is a pretty big deal, freaks.

It makes North America less dependent on a centralized supply chain for chip manufacturing. It helps TSMC distribute their operational risk internationally. And it opens the door for ASICs dedicated to Bitcoin mining being produced on US soil. Helping to distribute supply chain concentration away from the East and increasing the chances that Bitcoin will be sufficiently distributed in the future. Win-win-win all around.

"But Uncle Marty, China has control of all the rare earth metals that are needed to make these factories operational! Getting a fab plant built here doesn't matter if they control the inputs needed to make it operational! Idiot!"

Well, that narrative seems to be pretty fickle at the moment as we have found a stockpile of these metals in Texas. And there are rumblings that Mexico has abundant stockpiles as well.

What a way to end the week. Things may seem bad at the moment. The economy may be ground to a halt. Tens of millions may be out of work. But let's look for things that can provide optimism. The fact that the US is taking action to bring manufacturing back to the homeland and getting back into a builder's mindset is extremely encouraging. Yes, the economics may not be straightforward or make much sense at the moment, but it is imperative that we act and I believe the market, if it is allowed to operate without much intervention, will find creative ways to make sure things work out.

More of this! The future is bright! Onward!

Final thought...

Salt air flowing in the podcast studio. The best type of air flow.

Enjoy your weekend, freaks.