During the Aspen Security Forums 2023, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger spoke on the topic of semiconductors and national security. During his speech, Gelsinger mentioned that Intel should get the lion's share of the US$52 billion US CHIPS Act money, simply because Intel is a US company. In Gelsinger's opinion, it appears that TSMC and Samsung don't deserve as much, despite both companies manufacturing semiconductors for US companies, with Samsung already having a foundry in Texas, while TSMC is still struggling with the construction of its Arizona foundry.

Admittedly, Intel has far more foundries in the US, but it also seems like Gelsinger forgot about other foundries, such as GlobalFoundries, but also companies such as Micron, Texas Instruments, Qorvo, NXP, On Semi, Analog Devices and so forth that all own foundries that produce their own chips on US soil. We'd expect all these companies to be eyeing the CHIPS Act cash and without many of those companies, Intel wouldn't be able to sell any of its chips, as many of them produce much needed components that are used to build motherboards, laptops and what not. Gelsinger was obviously pointing fingers at the current US China trade war and how the export controls are causing concerns with regards to the global semiconductor business. As such, Gelsinger wants Intel to have fewer restrictions from the currently imposed trade regulations, largely due to China being some 25 to 30 percent of Intel's market, with Intel being busy expanding in the country. Make what you want of this, but it's clear that Gelsinger is expecting to eat the cake and have it at the same time. Video after the break.

Stan Shih, the co-founder & honorary chairman of Acer Inc., thinks that the USA will have hard time catching up with Asian semiconductor production facilities. Yahoo Taiwan managed to extract some choice comments from the multi-faceted businessman—he believes that the US government's initiative to boost native chip making will not be enough to match existing overseas strongholds. A key area of focus was volume output—Shih reckons that North America is already too far behind Asian counterpart industries, with Acer's home base of Taiwan being particularly strong (in his opinion). Workplace culture and state of the art equipment are cited as the main pillars for success.

Shih observed that that US chip industry has historically been far too reliant on outsourcing (going back many decades) production to foreign facilities, and Asia's position has been fortified thanks to long established and optimized supply chains—he thinks that the American system is not mature enough to reach parity. On a semi-related note, TSMC is reportedly struggling to get its new US facility fully operational—company chairman Mark Liu (according to Tom's Hardware): "said that the Taiwanese company would delay mass production of its Arizona fab from early 2024 to 2025, partly due to a lack of cleanroom tools necessary to produce chips at scale." TSMC has been transferring staff from its home turf to plug staffing gaps at the Phoenix facility—Liu divulged his latest batch of complaints during an earnings conference (last Thursday): "We are encountering certain challenges, as there is an insufficient number of skilled workers with the specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."

According to various news sources, CEOs from Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm have been holding meetings with representatives of the US government—with the topic of discussion reportedly being the escalation of semiconductor import restrictions placed on China. AMD was notably absent from Monday's proceedings, due to Dr. Lisa Su attending to business matters in Taiwan. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council director Lael Brainard and National Security Council director Jake Sullivan were alleged to have met with industry leaders.

Chipmakers have expressed worry about new restrictions coming into effect within the next couple of week—the latest negotiations could have touched on some sort of provision for leading silicon manufacturers. The US government believes that by limiting China's access to cutting-edge technology, it will bolster national security interests—with the Chinese military not being able to develop competitive defense systems. The Semiconductor Industry Association stated on Monday that: "overly broad, ambiguous and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the US semiconductor industry's competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China." Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm did not provide any comments to press outlets following the conclusion of their meetings with senior government officials. It is speculated that Qualcomm is set to lose the most trade following the implementation of stricter rules—Bloomberg proposes that 60% of the firm's business revenue comes from Chinese territories.

The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has recently announced a semiconductor-related partnership with with Japan (at the G7 Hiroshima Summit), as well as a $1 billion ($1.25 billion) support package for microchip industries within the UK - with the intended goal of turning the nation into a "technology superpower." The 10-year investment strategy was initially expected to kick of last Autumn, but the announcement was delayed, for various reasons, to last weekend's intergovernmental political forum held in Japan. Sunak hopes that the new strategy "will grow our economy, create new jobs and (make the UK) stay at the forefront of new technological breakthroughs."

The United Kingdom's microchip industry has been described as a "fledgling" operation when compared to its neighbors' undertakings, and industry figures think that the government's pledge of £1 billion in support is "insignificant" in the grand scheme of things. They cite the USA's CHIPS Act ($52 billion) and an equivalent scheme devised by the European Union (€43 billion of aid) as glowing examples of proper expenditure and reinforcement of their respective semiconductor industries. One technology critic thinks that the UK's support package is good enough for improving research and development departments, but it will in no way pave the way for local companies to reach the same level as big international players such as NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Broadcom and AMD. Cambridge, UK-based firm Arm opted to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this month, and ignored London's stock exchange entirely - the semiconductor and software design company is wholly owned by Japan's Softbank - prior to a change in ownership, Arm was viewed as Britain's leading light in the technology biz.

The European Union yesterday (April 18) has announced a substantial investment of $47 billion (€43 billion) as part of its already established plan to support native semiconductor industries. The European Parliament and EU member states have agreed upon new measures to boost the supply of semiconductors in Europe, as the bloc navigates a solution to reduce its dependency on manufacturers located in Asian territories. Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union, released his own statement about the agreement: "We have a deal on EU Chips Act! In a geopolitical context of de-risking, Europe is taking its destiny into its own hands. By mastering the most advanced semiconductors, EU will become an industrial powerhouse in markets of the future."

China and Taiwan are currently the dominant nations in the field of manufacture and export of semiconductor products. The European Union is also playing catch-up with North America, where the United States Chips and Science Act has been effect since last summer - around $280 billion in new funding will be meted out over time to boost domestic research and development, as well as manufacturing of semiconductors in the USA. Governing bodies around the world are shoring up domestic silicon-based manufacturing efforts in order to reduce reliance on products sourced from Asia - where supply chain issues and manufacturing delays have caused global shortages of essential electronic goods.

Silicon manufacturers in South Korea and Taiwan have questioned the requirements outlined in the United States Chips and Science Act - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke on Thursday March 30, and said that there was a growing concern within companies Samsung Electronics Corporation and SK Hynix Inc. with regard to criteria for new U.S. semiconductor subsidies. Excess profit sharing is one area of contention, as the U.S. government will expect dividends to be paid under special conditions. The companies are also reluctant to meet the requirements of submitting detailed information about fab capacity and yield estimates. Leaders are pointing to the potential sensitive nature of exposing too much confidential corporate strategy to bodies in the USA, and sources within Samsung and SK Hynix are worried that budgetary planning information will be revealed in minute detail.

The CHIPS Act grants a $52 billion pool of research and manufacturing funds, and subsidies would be sourced from it. SK Hynix's parent group is considering an application in order to gain access to funding via the CHIPS Act, the SK Group has formed plans to invest $15 billion of its own money into the U.S. chip manufacturing sector - a North American location for an advanced chip packaging plant is being decided upon. Samsung has invested a substantial $25 billion into its Texas operation, so is eligible to receive U.S. government subsidies as well.