Chip Crisis Flummoxes Congress in a World Where U.S. Output Lags
- Infrastructure bill could include chip manufacturing subsidies
- U.S. lags peers on incentives for research and development
Lawmakers hoping to revitalize U.S. semiconductor manufacturing in response to a global chip shortage will find it tough to do in the near term, even if Congress throws billions in cash subsidies at the problem.
There’s bipartisan support for increasing domestic chip manufacturing capacity with some U.S. carmakers forced to idle plants as supply chains are interrupted by the global pandemic. That would make it a relatively easy political sell to include in President Joe Biden‘s infrastructure package, currently being drafted with a focus on creating jobs.
But desire and money aren’t enough to jump-start an industry. The U.S. still leads the world in chip design, but manufacturing has largely been ceded to foreign firms. The few companies that do make chips domestically, including Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc., don’t currently have the capacity or execution track record to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co., according to analysts.