Representatives from two chipmakers, TSMC and Intel, said on Sunday that the Trump administration is in talks with semiconductor companies about building chip factories in the United States.
Intel Corp is in discussions with the United States Department of Defense over improving domestic sources for microelectronics and related technology, Intel spokesman William Moss said in an emailed statement… Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, on the other hand, has been in talks with the U.S. Department of Commerce about building a U.S. factory but said it has not made a final decision yet.
Intel Chief Executive Bob Swan wrote a letter to the Department of Defense in late March in which he expressed the company’s willingness to build a foundry – a term used in the industry to reference a chip factory – in partnership with the Pentagon. “This is more important than ever, given the uncertainty created by the current geopolitical environment”, Swan wrote in the letter dated March 30 and seen by Reuters on Sunday. “We currently think it is in the best interest of the United States and of Intel to explore how Intel could operate a commercial U.S. foundry to supply a broad range of microelectronics,” the letter from the Intel CEO added.
The Trump administration’s discussions with chipmakers were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, with the report adding that TSMC also has been talking with Apple Inc, one of its largest customers, about building a chip factory in the United States.
MacDailyNews Take: Strategic interest.
Awesome! Bringing manufacturing to the USA is doing so much for the environment, reducing the shipping, creating better products that don’t go to landfills so quickly, and not making stuff in China where there are no regulations. One of the great ironies of liberalism is the placing of regulations on the USA and then shipping manufacturing to China, shipping it back, buying it, and pretending you care about the environment, giving yourself a nice pat on the back.
Apple first tried to get TSMC to dedicate a factory to just produce parts for Apple, but TSMC declined. Talks mean nothing. If it doesn’t pay for a manufacturer to do this, then they won’t. They will want to be seen as cooperative though, so they will engage.
Intel says yes, this is a great idea, but they want to do it with the Pentagon. That means they want the government to put billions into the plant. A modern chip plant can cost $15 billion, so this isn’t something companies will do without a lot of assurances that it will pay. I don’t blame them.
I don’t think much of the talks with this administration. The talks with Apple May have meaning because they’re TSMC’ s biggest customer.
LOL… Why not use that big factory in minisoda, ‘don’tcha know’, that trump made such a big deal about?