Communications of the ACM
The U.S. Needs to Get Back in the Business of Making Chips
The Biden administration has signaled an intent to bolster the domestic chip industry with the CHIPS for America Act, which would fund the semiconductor industry to the tune of $52 billion over five years.
Only 12% of microchips sold worldwide were made in the U.S. in 2019, down from 37 percent in 1990. For decades, that wasn't seen as a problem. U.S. companies were world leaders in designing cutting-edge chips, the most valuable and important part of the process.
That's changing. Supply disruptions caused by the pandemic and an intensifying technology rivalry with China are prompting industry executives and policymakers to say the U.S. must actually make, not just design, chips.
"Zero percent of leading-edge chips are made in America right now," said Gina Raimondo, the U.S. secretary of commerce, during the recent Global Emerging Technology Summit. "It's a national security risk if we don't start producing more semiconductors in America."
From Wired
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