White House to hold virtual meeting tomorrow about the global chip shortage
TSMC is one of the companies virtually attending tomorrow’s meeting about the global chip shortage
Back in February, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “semiconductor manufacturing is a dangerous weak spot in our economy and in our national security.” Schumer noted that an executive order signed by President Biden during that same month was designed to check the “resiliency and capacity of the American manufacturing supply chains and defense industrial base to support national security [and] emergency preparedness.”
While China is not expressly mentioned by the White House in its review of the U.S. supply chains, the concern of the administration is that the United States (both the economy and the military) is becoming more and more reliant on supplies being exported from China. Tomorrow’s summit will reportedly cover the president’s jobs plan and how the U.S. semiconductor supply chain can be strengthened.
The companies virtually attending the summit include Alphabet (Google), AT&T, Cummins, Dell, Ford, General Motors, Global Foundries, HP, Intel, Medtronic, Micron, Northrop Grumman, NXP, PACCAR, Piston Group, Samsung, SkyWater Technology, Stellantis, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). TSMC and Samsung are the top two contract foundries worldwide, respectively.
By the time the Arizona facility opens its doors, TSMC could be shipping chips out of Taiwan produced with a 2nm process node. As it is, during the second half of next year we should see TSMC and possibly even Samsung delivering 3nm process chips. Each time the foundries start production with the next cutting-edge process node, chip sets (and thus smartphones) get more powerful and more energy-efficient.
Considering TSMC’s place in the semiconductor industry, this is a very important project for the United States if it wants to eventually take control of its own destiny when it comes to chips.
