Name: Will the Next Big War Be Fought Over Microchips?
Uploaded: 2025-02-20T01:59:34.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Will the Next Big War Be Fought Over Microchips?' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-20. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Will the Next Big War Be Fought Over Microchips?' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-20. Transcript available.

And is it a pro, it's like, say if I opened a door, like, like, oh, we keep the
AI in there.
Is it a computer? Is it a program? Is it a hard drive? Like what, like, what is
that?
Yeah. So there's two parts, there's two parts to it. So the first part is you
need really advanced
chips. So you need like, uh, uh, like these, they're called GPUs or sometimes
called TPUs or,
you know, there's a lot of different words for it, but you need like the most
advanced
computer chips in the world. Okay. And they, how big is each one? Do you know?
Uh, like,
or can you measure it like that? They, I mean, the biggest ones are actually
like the whole chips
are like, you know, pretty big, but they, they're like a, they're like a, like
a wafer kind of thing.
But then you, um, you put a lot of them all together. Okay. So these, uh, yeah,
yeah, yeah,
exactly. Um, these like, uh, these chips and the, the biggest ones are, are
yeah, exactly.
That's a little one. That's a little one. There's really big ones. Okay. Um,
but these
are the, so this is the, these are the brain cells of it. Yep. These are, these
are the brains
behind it. Yeah. So then, um, yeah, exactly. These are some, those are some big
ones. So
then you have to have a lot of these chips. So you need a ton of these chips
and that's,
that's kind of the, the, like, uh, that's the physical presence. And then, um,
and then
by the way, they take a huge amount of energy. They're really, uh, they, cause
they have,
you have to do a lot of, you know, calculations and there's a lot of math that
has to happen
on them. And so, um, and you have, you have giant, basically data centers,
buildings full
of like tons and tons of those chips, just in giant rows. Like how big are we
talking warehouses?
Yeah. The biggest one, I mean, like, um, like Elon's data center Colossus is
like, uh, I
mean, it's probably more than a million. It's definitely more than a million
square feet.
I mean, it's like just huge. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Look up Colossus. Uh, I've
never known
this. Yeah. Uh, yeah, yeah. That, that, uh, you see that building with the
sunset second row.
Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Or, uh, the one to the left. Oh no. Yeah. That one.
Yeah. Look,
it's like a huge ass building. It's huge. And all that's just filled with chips.
Um,
have you ever been in there? I haven't been in that one, but I I've been in
some of these
and this just, and this is what it looks like inside. Yeah. Basically. Yeah. So
it's just
rows and rows of chips. So no plants or anything. Yeah. No, no plants, no
plants. It gets hot in
there. I bet you hear about like chip makers in video all the time. Taiwan.
That place is
just a hotbed for, uh, chips. Why is it a hotbed for chips? Yeah. So one of the,
the biggest
companies in the world is this company called, uh, Taiwan Semiconductor. Yeah.
TSM. I've seen
them. TSMC. Yeah. So they're, they're, um, I mean, it's, it's like a trillion
dollar company,
uh, based in Taiwan. And it's, uh, that is where almost all of the high end
chips for AI that,
you know, we're kind of, we're kind of talking about all of them are
manufactured there. They
have these, they have the most advanced, think about them as factories, like
the most advanced
chip factories in the world. They're called fabs or fabricators, but basically
these huge factories
that are like, you know, there, there's all sorts of crazy stuff. So, um, they
have the most expensive
machines in the world. They're machines that cost hundreds of millions of
dollars in there. They
have, um, they build them because, uh, so that, you know, the chips, they have
to be made at,
at the like finest levels and very, very precisely. Yeah. You need small hands.
Probably, huh?
You need, well that, and there's like these machines that, um, that at the nanometer
level
make like little marks and etches on top of, uh, they have those, they have
those. Yeah. Those
are super expensive machines. So that, so, um, the chips it's, it's crazy. Yes.
But the, but it's so
it's the, the machinery is so precise that, um, even if there's like a little
bit of like seismic
movement, a little earthquake or a little bit of movement, it can fuck up the
whole machine. So they
have to build the, the buildings, build the factories in a way such that there's
like, like the whole
building doesn't move, even if there's like a little earthquake or a little
shake from the earth.
So it's like, it's this crazy, crazy engineering. Um, and so that's, so these,
all these giant
factories are in Taiwan and that's where basically like a hundred percent of
all the advanced AI chips
are made. So that's why Taiwan matters so much. Got it. But then the, the
reason it's a hotbed
is that, um, uh, the, the People's Republic of China, the PRC, uh, has a very
own Taiwan, right?
Yeah. I mean, true or not. I might make that up. There there's a, there's a
complicated relationship
between Taiwan and China where type, you know, if you ask people in Taiwan,
they, they want to be
independent. They want to be their own country. But, um, but the People
Republic's, People's Republic
of China has a, um, sort of a reunification plan that they want to bring Taiwan
back into their
country and be back a part of China. So it's kind of, you know, it's kind of
like it potentially,
you know, thankfully there's, there's no war yet, but there's a risk. Still
talking to your ex.
Yeah, exactly. There's a risk. It becomes like Russia, Ukraine, or, you know,
one of these really,
really bad situations. Um, so, so that's what's scary. What's scary is that, um,
that, that China,
A, China wants to, you know, either invade or bring, bring Taiwan back into its
country. Um,
and there have been, you know, um, President Xi has, has ordered his military
to get ready to do that
before 2027. Um, now we don't know what's going to happen, but, you know, if a
extremely powerful
world leader says to get something ready by 2027, you kind of, you know, read
between the lines a
little bit. Um, and, um, and that's part of it is, is, uh, obviously it'd be,
you know, we don't want
to enable them to, to take over this Island. But then the other thing that's
scary is, um, China may
view it as a way to just like win on AI, because if they take over the Island
with all of these very,
these giant factories, they'll get all the chips, Frito Lamborghini.
Baby, they'd be running it all. They'd be running it all. Yeah. Wow. So yeah,
that's why Taiwan is,
yeah. Cause you kind of hear about it in the whispers of like a potential place
where there
could be like a conflict. Yeah. And there's, there's all these reports about
how, um, China's
they're, they're stacking up tons and tons of military, um, right on their,
their, their coast
to, you know, that's pointed directly at Taiwan. And it's, it's pretty close.
Taiwan's pretty close
to China. Like it's, it's, uh, it's not so far away. So that'd be spooky. That's
yeah. It's
spooky. We're so blessed to have a place where at least we can sleep in peace,
even if we're
uncomfortable at times in our brains, you know, to not have that constant
threat.
Yeah, totally. Yeah. So you don't think, you don't think that you don't worry
that the
government will regulate right now. It's not, it's not a concern at the moment.
Uh, regulate AI. Yeah. In America.
No, I don't think so. I think, I think, uh, I think we're focused on how do we
make sure
that America wins? How do we make sure that, uh, that the United States comes
out on top
and that we enable innovation to keep happening?
Would you think they could regulate the amount of chips that you're allowed to
have?
So this is a hot topic globally, actually. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. This is a
super,
this is actually. Damn. Finally, dude. 560 interviews. We got a good question.
This is one of the hottest topics in DC right now, uh, is what, what are we
going to do about
how many chips other people are allowed to have? Because, because almost all
the chips
are American chips. So they're all, they all are American chips. And
technically.
We own most of them. Yeah, exactly. But China owns most of them too.
They're, China has their own, uh, has their own chip industry, but it's behind
ours.
Okay. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. So, so the United States has the, has the most
advanced chips as
all the, you know, these chips are the envy of the world. Everybody in the
world wants our chips.
And, uh, the, one of the big questions is, you know, do we, does the government
allow a lot of
these chips to go over overseas to China or parts of Asia or the Middle East or
wherever? Or do we want
to make sure they stay in America and make sure that we win in America? And
this is a super duper,
you know, they're called export controls. Yeah. Um, cause it's a possibility to
run it all.
Yeah, exactly. He's got the chips. What do you think about it? Um, it's a
complicated,
complicated thing because basically, you know, one argument is, um, we shouldn't
be throwing our
weight around in this way. Like, you know, maybe it's, it's fine. It's a free
market. Like if other
people want our chips, they should be able to get our chips. And that way, you
know, the world is
running on American chips that, that can be good in some ways. And it helps
make sure that, you know,
helps bolster our economy, our industry. Um, but the other way to look at it is,
Hey, AI is really,
really important that America wins at. And we don't want to like, let's not
give other people any
advantages or let's make sure that we win. And then, and then we can figure out
what we're going
to do with all the chips. So it, you can see both sides of it. Right. And there's
like all sorts,
you know, even beyond that, there's like 50 different arguments on both sides
of the,
of the conversation. But, um, you know, where I go, where I come from on it is
like,
let's, let's make sure America wins and let's start from there and then figure
out what we need to do
and then figure out what we need to do. And we'll see you in the next video. We'll
see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video. We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video. We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
We'll see you in the next video.
Thank you.