Intel and TSMC, two of the world’s biggest semiconductor companies, are reportedly in talks with the US’ Trump administration regarding the possibility of erecting chip factories on US grounds.
According to respective spokespeople, the two semiconductor companies were open to the idea of opening a foundry in the US. TSMC’s spokesperson also said that its company was already searching and evaluating suitable locations within the US.
Having homegrown semiconductor companies like Intel building chip foundries on US soil has been a long-standing obsession with the current Trump administration. In Intel’s case, it’s part of the administration’s long-standing plan of reigning in US companies and getting them to build their factories and manufacturing plants – the majority of which are based in China – inside the US.
In TSMC’s case, the Taiwan-based has been a long-standing partner and provider of chips to several US brands and companies. As it stands, the company is already set to provide GPU maker NVIDIA with its next batch of 7nm and 5nm chips. It’s also been reported that the foundry has been in talks with Apple, one of its biggest client, about opening up a factory within the US.
It’s also no secret that tensions between the US and China are still high. Back in May last year, the Trump administration signed an executive order against China that seemingly targeted the Chinese brand, Huawei, and its 5G telecommunication equipment. A ban that, by the way, led to Huawei being effectively cut off from many US companies, including Intel, Qualcomm, ARM, and Google, to name a few.
Of course, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic isn’t helping matters either; while scientists the world over rush to create a vaccine, its origin has also been a source of tension between the two countries. Arguing over who’s to blame for the spread virus.
(Source: Reuters)
