Yes, but the neolib globalist order of maximized efficiency via comparative advantage is breaking down now that we're entering a new era of global tensions as Russia tries to rebuild its influence and China is trying to become the world's premier power. I'd rather have critical industrial and consumer inputs a little closer to home even if it means somewhat higher costs

>noosphere

>"Sell me many CPUs and I'll give you rice at a discount"

>sell 1 shit tier embedded chip

>dinner for your grandparents and hers

>sell 1 wafer scale chip

>retire to Switzerland with 3 whores and a tv crew

They're also a small island nation with a specialization the entire world needs and are protected by the United States

Specialization maximizes output and if it costs some rice farmers it's more than worth it

It's unlikely that Taiwan could ever compete against China or the US with a broad diverse economy. Specialization benefits small nations without economies of scale. Taiwan is not going to magically manifest a Mississippi River Basin and compete with American ag on any scale. It's probably cheaper for them to import grain and rice. From a pure military standpoint, yeah, you shouldn't be dependent on other nations for food, but that ship has sailed long ago and smaller nations are fricked in any large scale world war anyway, so they may as well specialize.

That and getting invaded by China. I'd argue the world has put all its eggs in one basket with TSMC. And a good chunk of that rice is for export markets.

Strategic decision, the world will be a lot

more pissed if Chingchongland invades and cuts off the supply of virtual waifu chips

You still need a stable agricultural base.

Not if that will cost you your entire manufacturing sector, and not if you can just import everything you need in exchange for your tech.

At the same time we can deport all wh*te Arizonans (old frickers) to a reservation in New Mexico. Kristen Sinema can stay, she's cool.

California is such an unbelievably r-slurred state. They should axe all the water-intensive agriculture

Avocados help make the HR and yoga instructor world go around.

We obviously should be growing corn and soybeans instead

Why can't you grow almonds in East Texas or Missisipi where there's unlimited water?

Oh no whatever will we do without almonds

I already called out this topic:

Same issue, except there is not even a national security angle to the question of crops in CA.

In the case of CA, it would not be a national security issue to have a less-varied but nutritional diet if America got cut off from imports. Many things would just move production to other states, though.

Taiwan is potentially risking self-sustainability for food, but it's probably worthwhile for the comparative revenue.

What import dependency? If push comes to shove they just go back to rice farming. It's not like the farms rust without use or that the land is being destroyed.

Yes, which means the only other concern is what happens if they get isolated by mainland China. As long as they have enough food to handle a reasonably likely contingency, then I totally support diverting it to chips.

tbf, aren't most leftoids (or at least all the eco-friendly hippie-types, either genuine or for show) angry at the amount of almonds/pistachios grown in Cali too?

Yes, which is exactly what I'm saying.

Which resulted in horrific ecological disasters (today I will divert all rivers to grow cotton in the high deserts of Azerbaijan, this will certainly have zero consequences ) and completely screwed the former Soviet Union over as without the artificial trade networks of subsidized transport and state funding, most post-soviet countries were left with giant useless industrial bases and no ability to sell their products at a competitive cost on the open market, leading to staggering economic decay as they adjusted.

Case on point- the SU-25 attack jet can no longer be produced. It was assembled in the Sukhoi factory in Tbilsi, using engines and avionics from Ukraine, and other parts from Russia, and was dependent on the Soviet rail network for logistics and other components. Hence, Georgia now has no aviation industry and giant decaying factory that can't produce anything

They think autarky is not only possible, but ideal.

That's something they share with protectionist rightoids !neolibs

Not in my country, here the "subsistence farming made by the wholesome landless peasants" is an exclusively leftoid talking point, but we have full food security while being of the largest food producers and net exporters worldwide.