Notes From All Over -- July 15, 2021

Time to move on: for the archives, from Reuters, "Vaccination Burnout," July 13, 2021. The title, "vaccination burnout" pretty much says what everyone -- who doesn't live under the Geico Rock -- already knew. It's time we started treating Covid-19 just like "season flu." Offer the vaccine. Forget the rest. Move on. 

Landing strip: pretty funny. A group of US senators flew to Taiwan the other day. They flew there in a "large" military cargo plane. LOL. Now why in the world would they do that? LOL. Link here. And they said Trump was dangerous. LOL. 

Personally, I could / couldn't care less. The only reason I even pointed on the article: I was curious what "large" military cargo plane was used? Reported in the Chinese state-run Global Times it was a "US C-146A Wolfhound." From The US Air Force website:

The C-146A is a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft equipped with a configurable cabin capable of various passenger and cargo combinations, as well as casualty evacuation missions. The aircraft can carry a maximum of 27 passengers, 6,000 pounds of cargo, or up to four litter patients.

Large. LOL. Twenty-seven passengers and up to four litter patients. This is a puddle hopper.

If the Chinese think this is a "large" military cargo plane, "they haven't seen nothin' yet." LOL. 

Chips: Intel in talks to buy GlobalFoundries for $30 billion. Link here. GlobalFoundries, you ask? LOL.

• GlobalFoundries is owned by Mubadala Investment Co., an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government
• based in the US
• one of the largest specialist chip-production companies in the world
• it was created when Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., in 2008 decided to spin off its chip-production operatiosn
• AMD: remains a big customer for Global Foundries
• GlobalFoundries: relocating its headquarters from Malta, NY, to Santa Clara, CA
• much more at the link

Chips: shortage issue coming to an end? Link here.

• TMSC suggests the chip shortage may soon be a thing of the past
• TMSC, first expansion ever: to Japan
• TMSC also considering expanding in to China and the US. Whoo-hoo!
   
• TSMC's chips are in "billion of products", including iPhones, computers and cars, the Wall Street Journal writes in a new profile of the company. The company has slowly become the world's 11th most valuable company, with a market cap of about $550 billion. The company reported $17.6 billion in profits last year on revenues of about $45.5 billion. TSMC makes "around 92% of the world's most sophisticated chips," the report says. 
• could this be one reason why that group of US senators flew to Taiwan on a "large" military cargo plane, to see what TMSC was up to