U.S. President Joe Biden has met with key business executives to discuss the global shortage of chips that has affected carmakers and spurred Intel Corp to announce plans to make chips for car plants in their factories in the next six to nine months.
During Monday’s meeting, Biden said he had bipartisan support for legislation to fund the semiconductor industry. It previously announced plans to invest $ 50 billion in semiconductor manufacturing and research as part of its effort to rebuild U.S. manufacturing under a $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan.
The global shortage of chips stems from the confluence of factors, as vehicle manufacturers, which closed plants during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, compete against the vast consumer electronics industry to supply chips. . The latter industry has experienced a boom as people spend more time at home.
Biden and his top advisers see the shortage of semiconductors as a “top priority,” the White House said after the meeting.
Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger, who virtually attended the meeting, told Reuters news agency that the company wanted to start producing chips in its factories within six to nine months to resolve the issue. shortage, which has ceased to make assembly lines in some US automotive plants.
The supply crisis could lead to a potential deficit of 1.3 million units in the production of light cars and trucks in the United States this year.
“We hope some of these things can be alleviated, without having to build a three- or four-year factory, but maybe six months of certification of new products in some of our existing processes,” Gelsinger said. “We have already begun these commitments with some of the key component suppliers.”
Increase proportionally
Intel last month announced plans to greatly increase the manufacture of chips for outsiders as it builds new factories in the US and Europe. His talks with automotive vendors released Monday represent an acceleration of those plans.
The White House meeting was attended by executives from 19 prominent companies, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley, and Chrysler CEO Stellantis NV Carlos Tavares. Also in attendance were White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
“Today I received a letter from 23 senators, bipartisans and 42 members of the House, Republicans and Democrats, who supported the chips program for America,” Biden said at the top of the session.
Intel offered hope to the automotive industry and said it could start making chips in six or nine months [File: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg]
It was also attended by executives from companies such as GlobalFoundries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., AT&T, Samsung Electronics Co. and Alphabet Inc.
Participants stressed the importance of increasing transparency in the semiconductor supply chain to help mitigate the current shortage and improve demand forecasting to help avert future challenges, the White House said in a statement.
They also discussed “the importance of incentivizing additional semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the United States to ensure we never face shortages again,” he added.
Participants discussed short- and long-term approaches to addressing the shortage of tokens, but no decision or immediate announcement of the meeting is likely to occur, White House press secretary Jen told reporters Psaki.
Broadband, mobile, and cable TV Internet companies are also facing delays in receiving “network switches, routers, and servers,” according to an industry group.
Special treatment?
Many of the policymakers who support additional funding for semiconductors want to see the measure in an independent competitiveness bill aimed at China, not as part of the Biden infrastructure package, as it is now. China’s bill has some bipartisan support and could have a faster path through Congress.
But exactly how to spend and allocate semiconductor financing is a source of debate among automakers and other chip consumers, as well as the semiconductor companies themselves.
Machine manufacturers are pushing for a portion of the money to be set aside for quality vehicle chips, warning of production deficiencies if priority is not given to their industry.
However, manufacturers of other electronic devices affected by the shortage of chips, such as computers and mobile phones, have rejected demands from vehicle manufacturers, who are concerned about their industries. The debate was also a factor in the White House meeting.
The White House has not taken a public stance on the issue, but has privately told semiconductor industry leaders that it would not support special treatment for an industry, Bloomberg news agency reported, citing people familiar with the subject.
Later this week, the Senate Trade Committee will hold its first hearing on a bipartisan measure to bolster efforts in research and technological development in an attempt to tackle Chinese competition.
“Trying to deal with supply chains in a crisis-by-crisis way creates critical national security vulnerabilities,” national security adviser Sullivan said in a statement.