Semiconductor industry association SIA has written a letter to US President Joe Biden, calling on him to include “robust” funding for semiconductor manufacturing and research during his term, noting how critical the sector is to the US economy, US tech leadership and national security. The association noted that the US share of global semiconductor manufacturing has declined steadily since 1190, to 12 percent from 37 percent. This means the US has grown “uncompetitive” in attracting investments in new fab construction and that the country’s tech leadership is at risk in the race for artificial intelligence, 5G/6G and quantum computing.
“This is largely because the governments of our global competitors offer significant incentives and subsidies to attract new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, while the US does not. Others have also increased R&D investment substantially, while the US investment in research has been relatively flat,” the letter said.
The letter was signed by executives from AMD, Analog Devices, Broadcom, Cree, Global Foundries, IBM, Intel, Lattice Semiconductor, Marvell, Maxim Integrated Products, Micron Technology, Nvidia, ON Semiconductor, Qorvo, Qualcomm, Silicon Labs, Skyworks, Texas Instruments, Western Digital and Xilinx.
Biden is reportedly planning an executive order aimed at increasing the domestic production of silicon for applications ranging from power steering to 5G, the Hill reported. The effort "will be focused on identifying the immediate actions we can take, from improving the physical production of those items in the US, to working with allies to develop a coordinated response to weaknesses and bottlenecks that are hurting American workers," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. The move is also aimed at fixing chip shortages that have plagued many sectors.
