If you consider all the high-tech gadgets around you today, including the device you’re using to read this article, you’ll find that they all require semiconductor chips to function.
And most of these chips aren’t made in the USA
The Biden administration wants to change that and this week the President will sign CHIPS and the Science Act into law. The company plans to allocate more than $50 billion of his to move semiconductor chip manufacturing from its current East Asian production hub to the United States.
Sourabh Gupta is a senior Asia-Pacific policy expert at the Institute for China-America Studies who joined ‘All Things Considered’ to find out what this means for our gadgets and what it means for America’s technology manufacturing. We discussed what we can predict about the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
interview highlights
On what would happen if the US lost access to semiconductor chip imports from Asia
Without chips like oil, life would stop. Chips are the resources that power our electronic devices and in many ways effectively power our lives. Cars have hundreds of chips. And we’re not talking about the most sophisticated cars. We’re not talking about electric cars. We’re talking about your average car.
We are only talking about TV sets. It’s as simple as that. Without chips coming, gamer kids wouldn’t be able to enjoy much of their entertainment. Chips also provide the foundation for many innovations, the next generation of innovations, or what we call the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
on whether the CHIPS method is sufficient to prevent its potential slowdown
enough. There’s a lot of money, much of it front-loaded — literally $19 billion front-loaded over the next 12 months to support chip manufacturing in the US.America
We just need a certain amount of chips that will keep the United States out of extortion and dangerous situations in the event of war in East Asia or disruption of the entire supply chain.
on whether the law would effectively strengthen the U.S. position and curb China’s influence in chip manufacturing.
absolutely yes [shore up the U.S.’s position], but that does not necessarily curb China’s influence. This will allow China to create greater and original innovations to catch up with its US and East Asian peers in terms of chip manufacturing.
East Asian manufacturers are at odds over the CHIPS law, which imposes certain discipline on expanding production capacity in China. But with that said, they appreciate the importance of the United States. And the way they’re trying to move forward is by asking the US federal government to allow them to continue producing legacy chips (chips that aren’t cutting edge) in China, but they’re making cutting edge chips at home. to produce Don’t let the technology used in the most advanced chips flow into China and somehow boost China’s manufacturing capacity.
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