efforts to recruit businesses from the East and
West coasts.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has urged the U.S. to
focus its semiconductor subsidies on American
companies. The company announced plans last
year to spend $20 billion for two new factories
in Arizona, but also said last month it will
invest $7.1 billion to expand its manufacturing
operation in Malaysia, home to roughly 10% of
the company’s global workforce. A company
spokesperson declined to comment.
The U.S. share of the worldwide chip
manufacturing market has declined from
37% in 1990 to 12% today, according to
the Semiconductor Industry Association, a
trade group.
Several chipmakers last year signaled an interest
in expanding their American operations if the
U.S. government is able to make it easier to build
chip plants.
Chipmakers now are diversifying their
manufacturing sites in response to the shortages.
Samsung said in November it plans to build a $17
billion factory outside of Austin, Texas.
Micron Technology, based in Boise, Idaho, said
it will invest $150 billion globally over the next
decade in developing its line of memory chips,
with a potential U.S. manufacturing expansion if
tax credits can help make up for the higher costs
of American manufacturing.
Industry watchers expect the demand for chips
to grow even when the current shortages end
because more electronics will require them.