All the oldsters are passing away, nobody will know anybody on the other side soon enough. Even the language has diverged to some degree since the Armistice. Who will be left to reunify?
You are right, not sure of the downvotes. I cannot think of a single place on Earth where it would be more complicated yet profitable to build a semiconductor fab.
For one, it's Tier E:1 according to BIS which is even lower than China (Tier D). Everything except for humanitarian aid needs a licence. It's also sanctioned by OFAC so US persons or companies cannot assist in any way, and under secondary sanctions too so non-US institutions may be cut off for dealing with North Korea.
However, unlike the other countries on the E list, like Cuba, Iran, or Syria, North Korea is very stable (nuclear weapons), has a dense talent base (nobody allowed to leave), and has the natural resources/industry/foreign customers to make this possible. A fab would enable North Korea to eliminate foreign semiconductors from their missiles which is a big problem for likeminded countries like Russia or Iran that smuggle US/European semiconductors for Shaheds. So there is a clear market.
Makes sense that North Korea opened two fabs last year in secret:
Anyone who values capital returns over all other concerns, which seems like a lot of people and companies to me if they thought they could successfully profit off it.
All the oldsters are passing away, nobody will know anybody on the other side soon enough. Even the language has diverged to some degree since the Armistice. Who will be left to reunify?
I suppose that will be good for easing tensions?
There's probably still plenty of hardliners in the South.
NK would make an increasingly interesting location for a fab.
You are right, not sure of the downvotes. I cannot think of a single place on Earth where it would be more complicated yet profitable to build a semiconductor fab.
For one, it's Tier E:1 according to BIS which is even lower than China (Tier D). Everything except for humanitarian aid needs a licence. It's also sanctioned by OFAC so US persons or companies cannot assist in any way, and under secondary sanctions too so non-US institutions may be cut off for dealing with North Korea.
However, unlike the other countries on the E list, like Cuba, Iran, or Syria, North Korea is very stable (nuclear weapons), has a dense talent base (nobody allowed to leave), and has the natural resources/industry/foreign customers to make this possible. A fab would enable North Korea to eliminate foreign semiconductors from their missiles which is a big problem for likeminded countries like Russia or Iran that smuggle US/European semiconductors for Shaheds. So there is a clear market.
Makes sense that North Korea opened two fabs last year in secret:
https://www.nknews.org/2025/07/north-korea-now-operating-thr...
Lots of rare earth metals and lots of slave labor
Just need to get it a teensy bit more palatable.
Making a forever war disappear ain’t a bad step.
I don't know who is going to want to do tech transfer to North Korea
Anyone who values capital returns over all other concerns, which seems like a lot of people and companies to me if they thought they could successfully profit off it.