I read this report from CNN on the current battle between the Taliban and a province (Panjshir Valley) which remains out of Taliban’s control in Afghanistan. The Panjshir Valley has the  National Resistance Front (NRF) fighting therein. An interest is this statement from NRF after Taliban reported a few days ago that it had entered the valley, claiming that it would be concluding the battle soon.

An NRF spokesman said: “We have allowed them (Taliban) to enter the valley intentionally and now they are trapped. ..This is a tactic we have used from our playbook from the 1980s when the Soviets entered the Valley. The NRF is all over Panjshir and the Taliban have suffered heavy casualties tonight”.

No one is sure who is telling the truth, but you will not miss the use of the word “Playbook”. Politicians and business leaders do this all the time. An opponent produces bogus surveys telling you that your numbers are looking good, and that a state is winnable, even when it knows you have no chance; Trump campaign did it for Biden in Texas but Biden campaign despite many asking it to go for it (win Texas) did not fall for that trap. 

The US during the Gulf War did a similar thing: it “leaked” many documents that it was coming through the Euphrates River, conditioning the Iraq military to station there for resistance there. Magically, they came from another area, flanking Saddam Hussein soldiers and Baghdad fell in about 3 weeks.

I called this Fish Bait Acquisition Construct in business. Yes, what looks like easy wins may be designed to emasculate a business, trapping the brand into annihilation. Have awareness!

China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), has joined the growing number of chipmakers aiming to expand production as global chip shortage buoyed by covid-19 pandemic skyrockets demand. The company said on Friday that it will build a nearly $9 billion chip plant in Shanghai, giving hope to Chinese manufacturers, including Huawei, who have been caught in the heat of chip shortage.

According to a report, the plant will be Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.’s biggest investment in years and will churn out older-generation chips that are currently in short supply for everything from consumer electronics to self-driving cars.

SMIC said in a stock exchange filing that it has agreed with the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone to form a joint venture to build and operate the plant. Capacity is planned to reach 100,000 wafers a month, with a total investment of $8.87 billion.

The plant will make chips using 28-nanometer production tech or older, which is suitable for such chips as image sensors, Wi-Fi chips, driver ICs and microcontrollers, many of which are in extremely short supply. The most advanced chips on the market are made using 5-nm technology for iPhone processors and Mac CPUs.

The move challenges Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, which announced a similar move this year. TSMC said it will spend $2.8 billion to expand its production capacity in the Chinese city of Nanjing for 28-nm tech to tap growing local demand. Other global peers, including Globalfoundries and United Microelectronics, are also aggressively expanding capacity.

The registered capital of SMIC’s joint venture will be $5.5 billion, according to the filing, with the chipmaker taking at least a 51% stake and shouldering responsibility for its operations and manufacturing. The Shanghai government will take a 25% stake and third-party investors will be sought for the remainder, the filing said. It was not immediately clear when the new facility is slated to begin production

SMIC announced this year that it will jointly invest in a $2.35 billion chip project with the Shenzhen government to churn out 40,000 wafers a month in the southern Chinese city, starting in 2022.

Last September, SMIC was added to the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List, which bans the unlicensed exports of American technology to the company.

SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun has confirmed several times that the U.S. blacklisting has hindered the company’s development of more advanced technologies, which rely more heavily on American equipment suppliers such as Applied Materials and Lam Research. Zhao said his company is looking for alternative solutions while continuing to communicate with the U.S. government.

SMIC is China’s most promising contract chipmaker and thus shoulders many of Beijing’s hopes for building a self-reliant chip industry.

Recently the company has benefited from a surge in prices for chipmaking services as global electronics manufacturers and automakers battle an unprecedented shortage of semiconductors. SMIC is a key production partner for many Chinese chip developers, as well as U.S. chip developer Qualcomm. The company reported record earnings for the first half of 2021, thanks to higher prices and robust demand.

The plant will also help China to bridge its wide semiconductor gap with the US, and ease the strains of US sanctions on Chinese industries.

Congratulations Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 5 class for successfully completing the program today. Please add your qualification on your LinkedIn education section.

—To List for Mini-MBA:
Go to Education section on your LinkedIn profile:
School: Tekedia Institute
Degree: Mini-MBA
Field of Study: Business Administration Management, General

Also write Admin for your certificate; everything is ready.

Good People, join me to congratulate Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA edition 5 learners for successfully completing the business education program. The next phase is #HugeSuccess. Congrats #Tekedians. #WeMove

It took the efforts of the secret Police to stop those who came to recruit Nigerian doctors to give up a few weeks ago. Some Nigerian doctors are still on strike and the government is still speaking grammar when citizens are dying daily due to lack of healthcare services. It is very unfortunate indeed: “More than 7 in 10 Nigerians (73 per cent) have said they would relocate abroad with family members if they had an opportunity, a new survey published this week has found.”

“Most of the citizens (74 per cent) believe that all Nigerians are not equal before the law; versus 23 per cent who feel otherwise. About 6 in 10 Nigerians (58 per cent) express the view that the federal government isn’t making enough effort to promote a sense of inclusion for all ethnic groups in the country,” a summary of the report further showed.

“The survey findings showed that only 63 per cent of citizens are “extremely or somewhat willing” to cooperate with fellow citizens to make Nigeria more united.

Nigeria is the only country where everyone is a victim. It took the efforts of the Chief Justice to warn the judges to stop the mindless counterintuitive political calls they have been making recently. Yes, 1+1 = 2; one judge will rule. Another from another place will call it 3. Simply, you wonder how a nation can be run that way. From law to healthcare to sports to [add yours], it is a domino!