TSMC will increase semiconductor chips for cars by 60% this year To do this, TSMC has to reallocate semiconductor chip production capacity to other industries that are also experiencing “stressfully high demand due to the acceleration of digital transformation”. The Taiwanese semiconductor chip maker said: “With fixed short-term capacity, TSMC has been trying to increase production in 2021 for microcontrollers (MCUs), one of the key components in the products sold in China. leading cars by 60% compared to the level in 2020”. This represents a 30% increase from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. TSMC will also continue to work with the automotive supply chain to address the current shortage. Modernizing supply chain management and increasing demand forecasting will be the way to avoid such shortages in the future, TSMC added. The global semiconductor chip shortage, which began last year, has forced some auto production lines to close and is also affecting consumer electronics. TSMC has repeatedly said it is doing its best to address shortages and ramp up production. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on May 20 that she had held meetings with 30 senior industry leaders about the semiconductor chip shortage and said the US could help. increase transparency in the market. This meeting was attended by major automakers such as General Motors, Ford Motor, Stellantis NV, semiconductor chip suppliers and other semiconductor companies. Phan Van Hoa (according to Reuters)

Illustrative image – Photo: Reuters. Ethereum is “occupying waves” in the virtual money market because of its rapid growth. In the past 1 week, the second largest virtual currency in the world has increased by nearly 20%, surpassing USD 4,000 for the first time in the session on May 10. If counted in the past 1 month, Ethereum price has nearly doubled. At nearly 8:00 am on May 11 in Vietnam time, the Ethereum price according to the data on Coinmarketcap.com was $ 3,933, far exceeding the level of $ 176 a year ago. Another virtual currency that has also seen a dramatic rise recently is Dogecoin. However, there is a big difference in the uptrend of Dogecoin and Ethereum that CNBC pointed out. That is, Dogecoin price is pushed up mainly by the status lines (tweets) on the social network Twitter and the “inundation” of the crowd of individual investors on the Reddit forum. Meanwhile, Ethereum has the backing of institutional investors and is heavily chosen for multi-million USD NFT transactions. Ethereum is built on blockchain technology like Bitcoin, but Ethereum’s proponents do not view the virtual currency as a form of “digital gold” – a name attributed to Bitcoin. Instead, many investors, including billionaire Mark Cuban, consider Ethereum to be more applicable. One use of Ethereum is as infrastructure for the decentralized Internet, and people can develop applications on the Ethereum network. With a market cap of nearly $ 482 billion on May 10, Ethereum is now larger than the total capitalization of beverage company Coca-Cola, social network Snap, and Ford Motor, combined. In the world of virtual money, Ethereum is second only to Bitcoin – the virtual currency with a market cap of $ 1.1 trillion. If you bought Ethereum earlier this year, you can now pocket a pretty good return. Ethereum virtual currency price movements in the past 1 year. Unit: USD / Ethereum – Source: Trading View. According to CNBC estimates, with $ 1,000 buying Ethereum on Jan. 1 at $ 731, investors had the equivalent of $ 5,711 on May 10 when Ethereum’s price peaked at $ 4,174. The return on this investment is 471%. This rate of return is higher than the return on Bitcoin investment. If you spend $ 1,000 to buy Bitcoin at the beginning of the year, the investor currently has $ 1,948, equivalent to a near 95% return. However, this does not mean that Ethereum will certainly continue to bring big profits for its investors in the future. Experts always recommend that investors should not pour into virtual money an amount greater than the amount of damage they can accept.

Squeezing on top of a decommissioned volcano in northern Nevada, workers are preparing to blast and dig holes to mine the first large-scale lithium mine in the United States in more than a decade. According to the New York Times, Lithium is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of electric car batteries and renewable energy. This lithium mine was built on federal rental land and promises to address current US dependence on international lithium supplies. However, this Lithium Americas project was strongly opposed by members of the Native American tribe, the owner of the farm and the environmental groups. The project plans to use billions of gallons of groundwater in the area. In addition, the lithium mine has the potential to pollute for up to 300 years and leave severe consequences and huge waste of waste. The conflict surrounding the Nevada mine represents a new tense problem: Electric cars and renewables may not be as green as they seem. “Blowing a mountain is not environmentally friendly, no matter how much economic expectations people put on it,” said Max Wilbert, who lives at the proposed mine. Demand soared In addition to Nevada, private businesses are proposing other lithium mining sites in California, Oregon, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. According to the Bloomberg In the first three months of 2021 alone, lithium miners in the US raised nearly $ 3.5 billion from Wall Street, seven times the amount raised in the previous 36 months. This shows that a lithium boom is exploding as the electric car industry is becoming a new trend. Lithium is used in electric car batteries because it is light, stores a lot of energy and can be recharged many times. Analysts estimate demand for lithium will increase tenfold as Tesla, Volkswagen, General Motors and other automakers launch a series of new electric cars. Blasting a mountain is not environmentally friendly, no matter how much economic expectations people place on it. Max Wilbert, a resident of the Lithium Americans mining area. Therefore, the US needs to quickly find sources of lithium when electric car manufacturers accelerate production. Although the United States has the largest lithium reserves in the world, the country has only one large-scale lithium mine, the Silver Peak mine in Nevada. Mining started in the 1960s and produces only 5,000 tons / year – less than 2% of the world’s annual supply. Most of the raw lithium used in the United States comes from Latin America or Australia, which is then processed and manufactured into batteries in China and other Asian countries. The Lithium Americas mine under construction in Nevada is estimated to have a lithium value worth $ 3.9 billion. The operator is expected to start mining operations next year. The largest shareholder of the mine is Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium. However, traditional mining is one of the most “dirty” businesses today. For electric car manufacturers and renewable energy companies, this situation has not improved much. “While its intentions are good, the need for clean energy can do harm,” said Aimee Boulanger, executive director at mining services for BMW and Ford Motor. bigger”. “Dirty” industry On a hillside, Edward Bartell and the ranchers often go out early in the morning to make sure that 500 cows roam the 50,000-acre (202 km2) desert with enough food. Faced with a lithium mining project in the area, his family has never faced such a great threat. Not far from Bartell’s farm, the largest lithium Americans project in the United States is on the horizon. Mining ore will have helipads, chemical treatment plants and waste yards with the depth of the mine up to 112 m. Traditional mines are potentially dangerous to the environment, animals and people living in the area. Photo: NYT. Producing raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel often harm the soil, water resources, wildlife and people in the area. Like the competition for gold and oil in the past, governments are taking advantage of minerals to gain future economic and technological dominance. However, in the economic and technological race between great powers, environmental issues are often forgotten. What Barbell was most worried about was that the mine would consume all the water of the cattle. The mining company said the mine would consume 3,224 gallons of water per minute (equivalent to 12,204 liters / min). Thus, the groundwater level in the land where Mr. Bartell is breeding could decrease by about 3.5m. In addition, if the mine targets to produce 66,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year, this mine could cause groundwater to be contaminated with antimony metals and arsenic. Lithium is extracted by mixing clay dug from a mountain slope with 5,800 tons of sulfuric acid per day. The documents show that the entire process produces 354 million cubic meters of waste extracted from sulfuric acid treatment and can contain radioactive uranium. A December assessment by the Ministry of the Interior found that over its 41-year lifespan, the lithium mine would damage nearly 20 square kilometers of antelope and wildfowl habitat. In addition, the mine will destroy the nesting area of ​​a breed of golden eagle and other wildlife. “It was disappointing that the lithium mine was introduced as an environmentally friendly project, when in fact it was just a giant industrial park,” said Mr. Bartell. He filed a lawsuit demanding to stop mining activities. “The war is not fair” So far, the Joe Biden administration has not moved to promote more eco-friendly strategies such as extracting lithium from sea salt water instead of opencast mining. People of ethnic minorities protest outside the land management office to protest against the Lithium Americans mining project. Photo: NYT. Mining companies, meanwhile, want to speed up domestic lithium production and push the government to include a $ 10 billion funding program in the infrastructure bill. “If China severs relations with us, the US will face many difficulties,” said Ben Steinberg, an official in the Obama administration, threatened. This war is inherently unfair. After all, the mining units are just capitalists. Maxine Redstar, the leader of Fort McDermitt Paiute and the Shoshone tribe. At the Fort McDermitt Indian Reserve, controversy over the project was even more acute and led to more conflicts. The Lithium Americas mine proposes to hire tribal members as workers with an average salary of $ 62,675 / year. This salary is double the per capita income in the region, but indigenous Indians will pay a huge price for the environment and nature. “After you pollute the water here, what will we drink in the next 300 years? You’re lying!” Said Deland Hinkey, a member of the indignant tribe. Mr. Tim Crowley, vice president of Lithium Americas, pledged that the company will operate responsibly with the local environment, planning to use steam from burning molten sulfur to generate electricity, for example. However, people here still do not trust and fear that mining activities will cause serious environmental consequences. “This war is inherently unfair. After all, the mining units are just big capitalist corporations,” said Maxine Redstar, leader of Fort McDermitt Paiute and the Shoshone tribe.

It will not be easy for US President Joe Biden to “revolutionize the electric car” The electrification of the US transport industry is one of the commitments of President Joe Biden when running in November 2020. And a $ 2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, of which $ 174 billion is spent on electric cars and charging infrastructure, which the White House boss recently launched is considered the answer for the American people. But is that investment enough to change the shipping picture in the United States? Investment, stimulus, support With a newly announced $ 174 billion budget, President Joe Biden wants to invest and encourage Americans to switch to electric cars and trucks (EV), eliminate diesel or gasoline cars. . However, the New York Times quoted many experts as saying that although this is a large investment, it is not enough to change American perceptions about electric cars. Joe Biden’s team plans to subsidize electric car prices for individuals, businesses, and governments with tax exemptions, discounts and some other subsidies. On the other hand, US leaders set a target to build millions of charging stations by 2030. The White House owner also “opens a budget”, encourages manufacturers to participate in building electric vehicles and fuel cells at America. Bob Perciasepe, president of the US Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, said: “The United States is in a torrid time when most businesses and the state government look forward to a zero-emission future. carbon but admittedly, infrastructure is the biggest obstacle. The $ 174 billion investment alone will not be able to solve the climate problem or improve the US infrastructure, but it will be a powerful boost. The automakers have filled in their names on the list of greener trendy automakers like General Motors, Volkswagen or Ford Motor that are promising the future of EVs, but they insist they still need federal support. A representative group of manufacturers, suppliers and workers in the auto industry sent a letter to President Joe Biden saying: “The American transport revolution is not limited to one policy, it is dependent on a branch or rank in government or industry. It requires holistic strategy with a wide range of policies from legislators and regulators across economic, social, environmental, and cultural sectors. The group also calls on the government to subsidize, provide loans, and tax exemptions / reductions to stimulate electric vehicle production / research. Cognitive obstacles, technological breakthroughs are required Besides strong investment, the US government also has a big task to determine the success of the transition, which is to convince and change the perception of American people about the benefits of electric cars. According to statistics from Forbes Magazine in 2019, most Americans are not interested in electric cars. And the people’s awareness shift has not changed much despite many programs and strategies on environmental and climate protection that have been implemented during the past time. The demand for EV cars in the US has grown very fast, but in terms of overall premises is still low, accounting for only about 2% of the new car market and 1% of the total number of cars, sport utility vehicles, trucks … moving on the US road. Although the researchers point out that the full cost of owning and operating an EV vehicle will be cheaper after purchasing (fuel cost, lower maintenance frequency than vehicles using internal combustion engines) but perceptions of It is still difficult for people to change because the original electric car price is very high. The cost of buying an electric car is about $ 10,000 higher than the price of conventional trucks and cars in the same segment. The most expensive part of an electric vehicle is the battery. The average price of a battery system in a mid-range sedan is $ 15,000. Although the cost of batteries is on the decline, is expected to continue to drop deeply thanks to improvements in manufacturing and engineering, some scholars believe that, to really help electric cars lower prices to affordable prices, it takes a hit. Deep forays in technology. Most new car buyers in the US have to wait until the gas car breaks down to buy a new car. While, according to calculations from economic prediction firm IHS Markit, the average age of cars and pickups in the US has improved up to 12 years. Inadequacies about the charging station Another worrying problem hampering the U.S. transition to electric vehicles is charging. Currently in the US there are only more than 100,000 gas stations with additional charging equipment for EV vehicles. The Americans with garages will easily add chargers that allow overnight refueling, but this number is not much. Most people living in apartment buildings do not have enough dedicated chargers, or have to drive long distances to public charging stations to refuel their cars. “This is one of the top three reasons that customers often give when not choosing EV cars”, Mr. Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Guidehouse Insights magazine pointed out and emphasized, this is what the US administration need to solve. “We need to cover charging stations in areas where ordinary people do not have their own garages, have to park their cars outside like in narrow urban areas and big cities. If we solve that problem well, there will definitely be many people buying electric cars, ”said Sam Abuelsamid. The lesson of stimulating the demand for electric vehicles from China, the biggest rival to the US, shows that increasing the charging infrastructure is the decisive factor that helps Beijing rise to the top of the world in the proportion of electric vehicle users. However, according to experts, when all factors from supporting manufacturers, expanding fast charging systems and changing people’s perceptions converge, the transition to electric vehicles in the US still takes. a decade to come true.