The CEOs and senior leaders from across the semiconductor supply chain from tool and wafer manufacturers to key suppliers to end users of chips manufactured in the US participated in a CEO summit co-hosted by GlobalFoundries, Ford Motor Company, and Applied Materials on August 8 in Washington DC to discuss new partnerships and collaboration on next steps following the passage of the Chips and Science Act.
The closed-door summit was organized to let the companies have an opportunity to meet face to face with officials to "discuss how these public investments can accelerate semiconductor and emerging technology manufacturing, support the electrification of automobiles with a ready supply of chips, including feature-rich chips, and strengthen the United States' economy, supply chains, and national security," according to a press release from the organizers.
Gary Dickerson, president and CEO of Applied Materials said in a statement, "The Chips and Science Act provides a catalyst for the industry to accelerate investments to make our supply chains more robust, speed up innovation and commercialization of next-generation technology, and create thousands of US jobs." The three key issues discussed at the summit are: semiconductor manufacturing, transportation electrification, and economic, supply and national security.
"With his expected signing of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act tomorrow, President Biden is making it clear that government and industry leaders are laying the foundation for the next chapter in American innovation and manufacturing," said Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford. "A reliable domestic supply of chips, including legacy semiconductors needed in the automotive and defense industries, will keep American manufacturing lines humming, help make sure customers get the connected and electric vehicles they want, and strengthen the American economy and national defense."
Actually, of the US$52 billion budgeted for the Chips Act, only US$39 billion is going to manufacturing. And "legacy semiconductor" is defined as "a semiconductor technology that is of the 28 nanometer generation or older for logic" by the Chips Act. How the funds are to be appropriated to create the optimized effect for revitalizing the US semiconductor ecosystem is closely monitored by stakeholders.
The US government officials invited to the summit include National Economic Council director Brian Deese, under secretary of defense for acquisition & sustainability William LaPlante, and National Security Council senior director for technology & national security Tarun Chhabra, according to the release.
Companies and organization invited to the summit include: Analog Devices, AMD, Amkor Technology, Analog Photonics, Aptiv, ASML, Cadence, Cisco, DARPA, Entegris, Ford, Globalwafers Co., GM, Google, GSA, Indie Semi, Intel Corp., JE Dunn Construction Company, Marvell Technology, Micron, Movandi, NXP, OnSemi, Qorvo, Qualcomm, Qualcomm Technologies, Lam Research, Samsung, SEMI, Semiconductor Industry Association, Skyworks, Synopsys, Tokyo Electron US Holdings, TSMC Arizona, and Western Digital.
Chips Act to be signed by president Joe Biden
Photo: AFP
