Global powers regard the local supply capacity of chips as a national security issue, which drives the semiconductor manufacturing industry to be more dispersed and reduces the risk of over-concentration of production areas. On March 23, Pat Gelsinger, CEO of semiconductor giant Intel (Intel), accepted an interview with the media and compared chips to oil, which is an important bargaining chip in contemporary international political relations.
CNBC reported that in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on the 23rd, Kissinger said that in the past 50 years, oil reserves have affected global geopolitical issues, and entering the digital age, the location of fabs will also become the power behind the game of global powers Therefore, Intel will accelerate its global layout and return its chip manufacturing capabilities, which are highly concentrated in Asia, to Europe and the United States.
The report pointed out that fabs specialize in semiconductor wafer manufacturing and production. At present, most of the global wafers are manufactured in Asia, with Taiwan having the highest market share. But China has long claimed Taiwan’s sovereignty and threatened to use force to unify the island, and the outside world has begun to worry that the excessive concentration of the chip industry in Taiwan, where political risks are high, is not a good thing.
In February 2021, after taking over as CEO of Intel, Ji Singer actively promoted the geographical diversity of chip manufacturing, and planned to invest heavily in the construction of new fabs in the United States and Europe, and enter the foundry business to compete with Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung. Dominance of Asian chip makers such as Samsung Electronics.
Jason Tech & Finance News 