The US authorities will spend more on the development of the national semiconductor industry in 2024 alone than in total over the past 27 years. The SIA Industry Association expects that by 2032, about 30% of the total number of advanced chips produced in the world will be manufactured in the United States. At the time of the adoption of the CHIPS Act on the support of the relevant sector of the economy, it was close to zero.
Huge funds for the development of the semiconductor industry
The American semiconductor industry is pumping up monetary resources at an unprecedented pace, writes Tom's Hardware.
According to the US Census Bureau (USCB; the main American statistical agency, including the one processing economic data), the amount of government funding for the national electronic and electrical industry by the end of 2024 will exceed the total investment in the industry over the past 27 years.
In fact, the rise of production in this area began back in 2021, but the industry experienced explosive growth in 2022, with the adoption of the CHIPS and Science Act, says Martin Chorzempa, senior researcher at the Peterson Institute of World Economics, based on USCB statistics.
The United States will pour a record amount of money into the national semiconductor industry
The CHIPS and Science Act initiative, approved by the administration of President Joseph Biden and the US Congress, is aimed at supporting the American semiconductor industry, which at the time of the adoption of the relevant law was already showing a very noticeable lag behind overseas competitors, for example, Taiwan with TSMC and South Korea, the birthplace of Samsung Electronics. As Tom's Hardware notes, in fact, there are almost no enterprises left in the United States that could produce chips using advanced technological processes.
Overoptimistic forecasts
According to the forecast of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the volume of chip production in the United States will triple by 2032. By that time, enterprises located in this North American country are expected to produce about 30% of the total number of integrated circuits manufactured in accordance with the most modern standards.
SIA's assessment is impressive even in comparison with the more than optimistic forecast of the US authorities regarding this area. According to the plan of the Ministry of Commerce, announced in February 2024, the government expects much more modest success from American industry – gaining a 20 percent share in the world market, however, in a slightly shorter term – by 2030.
Despite the fact that the US authorities and SIA are predicting a bright future for the national semiconductor industry, it is probably too early to talk about any practical results. Ambitious projects of Intel, Samsung, Micron, TSMC and other manufacturing companies are far from completion and periodically face unforeseen problems. For example, as CNews wrote, Samsung Electronics and TSMC were forced to postpone the launch of production sites under construction in the United States to 2025. Earlier, in 2021, Samsung planned to introduce its new North American enterprise in the second half of 2024.
It is also worth noting that there were some hitches with the distribution of money within the framework of the CHIPS and Science Act initiative. So, in April 2024, the US authorities indefinitely froze the program of state support for the creation, modernization and expansion of sites for research and development (R&D) in the field of semiconductors. The huge number of applicants for state subsidies put officials of the Ministry of Trade, who failed to correctly assess the demand for budget financing of R&D events, in an awkward position.
Who will receive the money under the CHIPS Act
The CHIPS and Science Act was approved by the US President in August 2022. In terms of the national semiconductor industry, the law initially provided for the allocation of $39 billion for the deployment of production facilities for the production of integrated circuits in the United States, as well as $13 billion for R&D and training of qualified specialists in the field of semiconductors.
The initiative is aimed at strengthening the reliability of chip supply chains and is also considered by the US authorities as a symmetrical response to China, which has invested heavily in the development of the national semiconductor industry in recent years. As part of the CHIPS Act, international giant chipmakers such as Intel, TSMC and Samsung will receive support.
Intel, which is considered by the authorities as a potential partner in the production of advanced chips for the needs of the American military-industrial complex, may also receive additional funds for the deployment of production facilities in a "closed circuit", from the allocation of which for unknown reasons en/news/top/2024-03-14_pentagon_vnezapno_peredumal" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">the Pentagon refused .
