Diane is right. Any CPU built in Canada would not be cost competitive. We no longer have the skillset to design CPUs as well. We could develop the whole ecology but it won’t be cheap. The last CPU designed and used in Canada to my knowledge was the NT-40 bit slice CPU used in the first generation of DMS central office switch switch in the 70’s. Someone please prove me wrong. /sc > On Oct 18, 2026, at 10:17, Dianne Skoll via linux <linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org> wrote: > > On Sat, 17 Oct 2026 23:27:07 +0000 (UTC) > Eric Marceau via linux <linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org> wrote: > >> Hardware Level >> Since Canada >>had<< fab capability for chips, with each of Nortel, >> Newbridge, SR Telecom,__JDS Uniphase, etc. don't we have capability in >> Canada to quickly deploy a factory for RISC-V based chipsets to build >> our own computers? > > Short answer: No. > > Long answer: No. The chipmaking facilities we have and had in Canada > are many, many generations behind modern fabs. We probably could make > a RISC-V processor that ran at 300MHz and consumed lots of power, but > that's a bit pointless. > >> If not, couldn't Canada come up with its own >> computer chipset and work thru Infineon Technologies (German) to >> produce a chipset that would eliminate the reliance on US based tech? > > Sure, if we wanted to spend untold billions of dollars. > > A RISC-V chip manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan is probably about as good > as it gets. > > Regards, > > Dianne. > > To unsubscribe send a blank message to linux+unsubscribe [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org > To get help send a blank message to linux+help [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org > To visit the archives: https://lists.linux-ottawa.org > To unsubscribe send a blank message to linux+unsubscribe [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org To get help send a blank message to linux+help [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org To visit the archives: https://lists.linux-ottawa.org