I recently came across this interesting story from commodityonline.com that discusses Taiwan’s plans to introduce a million-robot army to manufacture key IT components.

Robots, of course, have long been seen as a labor-saving innovation, increasing efficiency and quality assurance.  They don’t call in sick, have spats with co-workers, or take long lunches.  But they do, apparently, have an appetite – for critical metals like the rare earths, gold and silver.

Once gain, the connection of high-tech to primary materials becomes central to our next stage of global productivity.