It's reasons like this why the DPA and other mechanisms exist. Having sufficient fab capacity in case global supply lines experience disruption is a strategic reserve of high national security importance.

That’s true. But then supply, demand, and price are irrelevant. The challenge is making optimal decisions about investment. Markets tend to be brutal to producers who aren’t efficient, and that leads to a Darwinian process favoring the momentarily optimal producers. Production by fiat leads to weird outcomes. DPA mandated and funded fab facilities will probably in the future be wildly out of date with private producers ensuring we can only produce antiquated processes or using extraordinarily inefficient processes.

I’m no libertarian market wacko, and I think it’s important to have decentralized production and as a planet we probably jumped the shark with centralizing Asia as the production hub for manufacturing and fabrication. But I’m dubious DPA etc are sufficient measures.

My point though was low prices and softening demand is NOT helpful as the prior poster asserted. It hurts the effort because the lack of margin and scale means only fiat production is possible, with poor long term outcomes.