Major projects to increase the United States’ manufacturing capacity for semiconductors have been put on hold as supporting legislation has been delayed in Congress.
Many Asian economies implemented harsh lockdown measures in response to COVID, creating bottlenecks in the global semiconductor supply chain. As a result, American consumers and businesses have faced a shortage of products that require computer chips. Some automotive companies, for example, have been forced to limit or pause production, worsening inflationary pressures as vehicle prices surge at the highest rate in decades.
In response, lawmakers proposed the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act. However, because the funding has not yet reached chipmakers, Intel, TSMC, and GlobalFoundries issued “public warnings” that they might “scale back their plans to make semiconductors” in the United States, according to the Department of Commerce.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, for example, said at a recent panel event that he might increase chip production in Europe due to legislative delays in the United States. “The rest of the world is moving rapidly despite the inability of Congress to get this finished,” he remarked, noting that Asian countries are also passing new incentives.
Steven Grasso, GlobalFoundries’ managing director of global government affairs, told The Washington Post that the CHIPS Act “makes the U. S. semiconductor industry more competitive globally,” while the “passing of CHIPS funding would affect the rate and pace at which we invest in expanding our U.S. manufacturing capacity.”
The United States represents 12% of global semiconductor manufacturing and 25% of global semiconductor demand, according to Radford University management professo... (Read more)
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