By 2030, the U.S. could produce 20% of the world’s most advanced microchips and semiconductors, according to American Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The U.S. currently produces no microchips or semiconductors and instead relies on offshore manufacturing in countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, noted Raimondo, who was speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
However, the U.S. government is looking to rectify the current situation, having allocated $39 billion U.S. through the “Chips Act” to develop domestic microchip and semiconductor manufacturing.
Raimondo likened efforts to develop chip manufacturing within the U.S. to the
space race and said that the world is too reliant on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) to make the advanced chips used for artificial intelligence (A.I.), military weapons, and other applications.
Although the U.S. leads the world in designing microchips and developing A.I. technologies, it doesn’t manufacture or package any chips or semiconductors.
Since 2022, the U.S. private sector has announced $200 billion U.S. in semiconductor manufacturing investments.
Intel (INTC) is currently building a microchip manufacturing facility in Ohio and Taiwan Semiconductor is building a site in Arizona.
In her remarks, Raimondo said that government funding needs to focus on projects that will be operational by 2030, calling domestic chip production a matter of national security.
Currently, Taiwan Semiconductor manufactures more than 80% of all the microchips and semiconductors in the world.
