The United States panics Chips are designed in the United States, but they are not manufactured in the United States
Some time ago, it was reported that Intel's CEO threatened Biden, saying that if he couldn't get orders from Chinese manufacturers, he wouldn't need to build an Intel factory.
According to the plan, Intel intends to build two wafer factories in Ohio, USA, with an initial investment of $20 billion in the first phase. The base will continue to expand, and eventually Intel will invest more than $100 billion to build eight factories, which Intel paints in the picture for a bright future to be built here"The world's largest chip manufacturing base"。
When Intel rejected the plan, Biden was very happy, and Biden even personally visited the Intel base. According to **, it is also because of this base that Intel can receive up to 52.7 billion chip production subsidies, worth 32%, equivalent to $17 billion.
Why is the United States so keen on Intel to build an integrated circuit factory? The reason is that the U.S. integrated circuit industry has been very"Hollowing"。
According to the American Semiconductor Association, by 2022, 85% of the world's chips will be designed in the United States, but only 10% of chips will be manufactured in the United States. 90% of chips are manufactured outside the United States.
90% is manufactured outside the United States, mainly in Chinese mainland, Taiwan and South Korea.
You know, before 1990, the United States accounted for more than 50% of the world's chip manufacturing, and in 1990, this proportion fell to 37%.
But by 2020, that proportion had dropped to 12 percent, while the proportion of chips produced in Chinese mainland reached 16 percent, surpassing that of the United States.
Without intervention, the proportion of chips produced in the United States will fall to 10% by 2023, while in Chinese mainland it will reach 24%.
Chips are too important, for the United States, not only military, many high-tech equipment need chips, all other high-tech industries need chips, such as artificial intelligence, such as new energy vehicles, informatization, digitalization, all need chips to support, so the United States of course hopes that they have more control in this regard!
The United States is also worried that once there is a problem with the first chain, these technology industries in the United States will be in trouble, so leaving the production and manufacturing of chips in the United States can greatly reduce the risk of the United States being stuck by the international ** chain.
At the same time, the United States is more reluctant to have global chip production capacity controlled by Chinese mainland, which is a pain that the United States cannot bear, so the United States desperately hopes that the American chip manufacturing industry can be revived.
The United States can also be sure that due to labor and other cost issues, the cost of setting up a chip factory in the United States will be higher than that of other countries, about 30% or even higher, so the United States chip manufacturing industry must be subsidized to reduce costs, so it was passed last year"CHIPS and Science Act"It is hoped that through subsidies, the cost of these chip companies will be reduced.
However, industry insiders are not optimistic about the United States returning to the world's chip manufacturing center, because even with the financial support of the United States, there is still no advantage in Asian factories and cost comparison.
At the same time, the U.S. subsidy for wafer production cannot be maintained forever, as the subsidy stops, their competitiveness will decline, the current wafer industry tends to be saturated, and the United States will increase production capacity, which will only lead to overcapacity in the future, ** decline, and eventually corporate losses.