In an effort to promote U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research, the Semiconductors in America Coalition was formed on Tuesday (11) under the leadership of U.S. technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Intel, and notably, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC, or TSMC) is also a member.
The Semiconductors in America Coalition (SIAC) includes 65 major players in the semiconductor value chain, with the direct aim of pushing the U.S. government to provide subsidies for U.S.-based chip manufacturing.
The coalition is dominated by U.S. technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Intel, but also includes some heavyweights in the semiconductor supply chain in Asia and Europe, such as Taiwan’s TSMC and MediaTek, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as well as the world’s leading chip lithography technology – the Dutch lithographer manufacturer As (ASML), a global leader in chip lithography.
According to the coalition’s website, its mission is “to help support the U.S. economy, critical infrastructure and national security by advancing U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research. It calls on U.S. congressional leaders to support President Joe Biden’s Make Chips for America Act, an initiative to allocate $50 billion in funding to support the U.S. semiconductor industry.
While ostensibly designed to lobby in the U.S., the U.S. Semiconductor Alliance demonstrates U.S. influence over the globalized semiconductor supply chain and could make it more difficult for the Communist government to break away from the U.S.-dominated global semiconductor supply chain, analysts say.
Alex Capri, a researcher at the Hinrich Foundation, an Asian philanthropic organization that promotes sustainable global trade, analyzed the renewed momentum of U.S. support and protection of the semiconductor value chain and technology, making the CCP’s ambition to be self-sufficient in chips continue to face significant challenges.
Capri said TSMC’s increased investment and participation in building leading 5 nanometer (nm) or even 3 nm chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. could increase pressure on the CCP government, as the Taiwanese company does not appear to be doing the same in mainland China.
Despite TSMC’s cooperation with Washington to impose technology restrictions on Chinese cell phone giant Huawei Technologies Co. and China’s leading independent core chip provider, Tianjin Feiteng Information Technology Co. The Chinese government has been careful to avoid public criticism of them.
Stewart Randall, head of electronics and embedded software at Intralink, a U.K.-based consulting firm specializing in East Asia, said it “makes sense” for TSMC to join the U.S. semiconductor alliance because everyone is joining and there is an opportunity to make some money.
“There’s nothing like this happening in China, bringing together a broad range of companies from around the world,” Randall said. Randall said.
Randall added that the new alliance could help the U.S. and its allies “maintain a lead over China for a longer period of time.”
The Chinese Communist Party is working to reduce its technological dependence on the United States in chip manufacturing, but it is a challenging project for it. Of the 65 members listed on the U.S. Semiconductor Alliance website, none are from China.
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