Notes From All Over -- The 4:00 A.M. Portland, OR, Edition -- May 23, 2021

Chips: huge story, on so many levels -- TSMC -- largest chip maker in the world -- set to "double down" and vastly increase US semiconductor chip investment in Arizona. Link here.

The company had already said it was going to invest $10 billion to $12 billion in Arizona. Now, the company is mulling a more advanced 3 nanometer plant that could cost between $23 billion and $25 billion, sources said. The changes would come over the next 10 to 15 years, as the company builds out its Phoenix campus, the report notes.

The move would put TSMC in direct competition with Intel and Samsung for subsidies from the U.S. government. President Joe Biden has proposed $50 billion in funding for domestic chip manufacturing - a proposal the Senate could act on as soon as this week. Intel has also committed to two new fabs in Arizona and Samsung is planning a $17 billion factory in Austin, Texas.

Batteries: I would have ignored this story, and certainly not posted it except it comes from The WSJ. Natural gas, America's #1 power source, has a new challenger: batteries. Link here.  Incredibly awful article from The WSJ. If you are able to access it be sure to read the comments. 

Rebuttal: Wattsupwitththat.com blows a hole in the afore-linked WSJ article on batteries: link here. And that article has no paywall. 

Stacker: new site to follow?

CDC won't count "trivial" breakthrough Covid cases; doesn't want to see a surge under Biden's watch. I thought I had posted that story already; apparently not. A reader sent me the story. My reply:

Unfortunately the story has no legs.

However, the good news is that with no reporting "break-through" cases, the states won't go back to shutting down.

Although the CDC was caught red-handed, it's actually a good decision. We don't need to start seeing cases surge again.

Flattened the curve: Saudi Arabia lifts quarantine requirement for foreign visitors.