Intellectual property theft, rising tensions with China, and logistical issues during the pandemic have been game changers in the United States. Holder of the main patents in the key field of semiconductors, the country had delegated production to Asia, for economic reasons.
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Today, it is the opposite movement that Washington operates, which seeks to repatriate the sector by all means. Last summer, President Joe Biden passed the “chips act”, for electronic chips, with the support of the Republicans. He promised 49 billion francs in subsidies to the semiconductor industry.
Several construction sites
This change in policy can be seen particularly in Arizona, in the south of the United States, the new El Dorado for semiconductors. In the suburbs of Phoenix, the Taiwanese giant TSMC is investing 40 billion dollars and will create 4,500 work places.
A little further south, the American Intel is spending 20 billion for 3,000 jobs. “This is an effort to correct the problems of the past. We are adapting, as the markets always do,” observes Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Jason Bagley, head of relations with the US government at Intel Corp.
Training programs have also been set up in the region to help businesses find the thousands of skilled workers they need.
Geopolitical risk
In fact, Arizona is at the heart of a global economic reorganization. “The Covid pandemic has shown that the supply chain is easily disrupted,” said Chris Camacho, chairman of the Phoenix Area Economic Council. “By settling here, companies avoid this kind of risk. It also allows them to hedge against geopolitical risk,” he adds.
The world’s largest producer of semiconductors, Taiwan is at the heart of tensions between China and the United States. TSMC, its key company, with nearly 50,000 employees in its subsidiaries in China and the United States, produces about half of advanced semiconductors and a fifth of all chip manufacturing.
The challenge is therefore for both China and the United States to increase production in their territories. As for Europe, which has also suffered the consequences of shortages during the pandemic, it is trying to resist as best it can. But the flagships of the sector, including ST Microelectronics, whose head office is in Geneva, weigh only about 10% of the market.
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Posted at 08:14
TV report: Gaspard Kühn
Adaptation web: jgal
