Skip to main content

Trump administration wants to bring chip manufacturing to the U.S.

The U.S. government is hoping to persuade chip manufacturers Intel and TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) to build factories in the U.S., according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly concerned about relying on overseas manufacturers, especially those in Asia, for a supply of all-important processors. Driven by the coronavirus pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on global supply chains in all industries including computing, the U.S. is seeking to secure a supply of essential components manufactured within its own borders.

Officials from the U.S. government have been in talks with the two companies about opening factories in the U.S., as confirmed by a representative from Intel. “We’re very serious about this,” Greg Slater, Intel’s vice president of policy and technical affairs, told the Wall Street Journal. “We think it’s a good opportunity … The timing is better and the demand for this is greater than it has been in the past, even from the commercial side.”

The company confirmed the talks in a statement to Reuters that was positive about the plans: “Intel is well positioned to work with the U.S. government to operate a U.S.-owned commercial foundry and supply a broad range of secure microelectronics.”

TSMC also confirmed its interest in a statement, saying that, “We are actively evaluating all the suitable locations, including in the U.S., but there is no concrete plan yet.”

The requirements for the U.S. to secure its own supply of processors is not only due to the coronavirus outbreak, but also due to mounting tensions between the U.S. and China. Tech companies like Huawei have become a battleground in the fight over security and trade, tensions which have only increased as the two countries blame each other for the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus.

Editors' Recommendations

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
WeChat users file lawsuit against Trump’s unclear order to ban app in U.S.
Trump stylized image

A lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco aims to block President Donald Trump's executive order to ban WeChat in the U.S. due to national security concerns.

The lawsuit, filed by Chinese-American lawyers forming the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance, claims that Trump's "vaguely worded" order is unconstitutional and violates rights to free speech, Bloomberg reported.

Read more
U.S. tightens restrictions on Huawei access to chips, Android updates
huawei mate 30 pro launch news emui android

The U.S. Commerce Department will make it even more difficult for Huawei to access tech products and software produced and created by U.S. tech companies.

According to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Huawei and another 38 affiliates of the company have been added to the Entity List, which imposes restrictions on licensing agreements and hardware exports. The new rules not only makes it harder for Huawei to obtain chips for its devices and Android updates through Google, but ends the Temporary General License (TGL) extended to the company in early 2019.

Read more
Trump gives ByteDance 90 days to sell U.S. assets of TikTok
tiktok logo next to trump

President Donald Trump gave ByteDance 90 days to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok, due to "credible evidence" that the Chinese parent company presents a threat to the country's national security.

The 90 days starts from the issuance of the executive order on Friday night, which sets the deadline to divest all U.S. interest and rights by November 12. This gives ByteDance more time to secure a deal, as the company was previously only given until September 15, and until September 20 for U.S. transactions.

Read more