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The
chief executive of truckmaker Paccar Inc will also testify at
the hearing, which will look at vulnerabilities in semiconductor
supply chains and the sector's connection with American
competitiveness.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell announced the
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/
2022/3/developing-next-generation-technology-for-innovation
hearing on Wednesday. Reuters reported the planned hearing
earlier.
Two decades ago, the United States produced nearly 40% of all
chips and today it accounts for only 12% of global production,
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has said.
Last week, President Joe Biden met with executives of chipmakers
including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Micron Technology Inc and
other companies as part of an effort to push the U.S. Congress
to fund subsidies to chipmakers to ease the semiconductor
crunch.
The Senate in June and the House in February approved the $52
billion in subsidies in separate bills. "Get it to my desk as
quickly as you can," Biden said last week.
The bills take different approaches to addressing U.S.
competitiveness with China on a wide range of issues, as well on
trade and some climate provisions.
A persistent industry-wide shortage of chips has disrupted
production in the automotive and electronics industries, forcing
some firms to scale back production.
Cantwell said it was urgent to act, noting the chip shortage
cost the global auto industry an estimated $210 billion in
revenue in 2021 and a loss of production of 7.7 million cars.
"It's 30% to 50% cheaper to build a semiconductor foundry in
Asia than in the United States, mostly because of foreign
government investment... We can't wait," she said.
Intel said it was pleased to have the opportunity to "advocate
for the importance of investing in American semiconductor
leadership."
In January, Intel said it would invest up to $100 billion to
build potentially the world's largest chip-making complex in
Ohio.
Micron said in October it plans to spend $150 billion over the
next decade globally on leading-edge memory chips manufacturing
and research and development. Micron said funding from Congress
"would open the door to new industry investments."
SEMI, an industry association, said in a letter
https://www.semi.org/sites/semi.org/
files/2022-03/SEMI_House_FABS_Act_Support
_Letter_Mar_16.pdf to Congress that chips funding "is vital to
provide a foundational incentive for investments in domestic
design and manufacturing facilities for semiconductors and
semiconductor equipment."
Critics like Senator Bernie Sanders question why Congress would
give subsidies to a large profitable industry.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, editing by David Gregorio and
Richard Pullin)
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