these days. More than two years after the pandemic began to shock the global semiconductor supply chain, the companies that make the chips to power these products are still feeling the pinch.The Senate could provide some relief in the coming year, as it votes on a $52 billion package this week that would provide funding and tax credits to companies that produce chips and invest in domestic manufacturing.
For many of the largest tech and automotive companies, semiconductors used to be a relatively inexpensive component, one that cost as little as two cents to manufacture in the 1970s. Now, these tiny electronic switches are the biggest obstacle preventing more sales. “It’s not really just a semiconductor chip shortage. That’s the end product,” says Michael Hochberg, the president of Luminous Computing, a California-based chip startup that develops light-based semiconductors for artificial intelligence. “It’s a semiconductor talent shortage, a semiconductor equipment shortage, and a semiconductor fabrication capacity shortage, too. It’s all of those things at once.
“Unless we address the entire microelectronics ecosystem, we’re not truly securing our domestic supply chain,” Kelly says.Demetrius Freeman—The Washington Post/Getty ImagesKelly’s printed circuit board firm, Isola, is among the last American firms to manufacture printed circuit board laminate in the U.S. The materials needed to make that laminate—fiberglass yarn and copper foil in particular—are only made and sold by one supplier in the entire country.
The national security concerns of producing semiconductors abroad has been a crucial aspect of getting Congress to take action on the CHIPS Act, a senior legislative advisor to Raimondo told TIME. “It’s everything from silicon wafers, substrate, chemicals,” Raimondo says. “This stuff is not made in the United States, and it’s shocking.” Congress is hoping that the suppliers of all these parts will be incentivized to relocate to the U.S. once more fabs are built domestically—a primary goal of the CHIPS Act. “If TSMC builds a mega fab in Arizona, or if Intel builds a mega fab in Ohio, the whole ecosystem of talents and suppliers will develop [there],” Raimondo explains.
CHIPS
I am sure that PS5s and new cars are exactly what they were thinking and not military technology applications that were difficult to keep from the prying eyes of China.
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