Chip Makers Turn Cutthroat in Fight for Share of Federal Money (nytimes.com) 24
Semiconductor companies, which united to get the CHIPS Act approved, have set off a lobbying frenzy as they argue for more cash than their competitors. From a report: In early January, a New York public relations firm sent an email warning about what it characterized as a threat to the federal government's program to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry. The message, received by The New York Times, accused Intel, the Silicon Valley chip titan, of angling to win subsidies under the CHIPS and Science Act for new factories in Ohio and Arizona that would sit empty. Intel had said in a recent earnings call that it would build out its facilities with the expensive machinery needed to make semiconductors when demand for its chips increased. The question, the email said, was whether officials would give funding to companies that outfitted their factories from the jump "or if they will give the majority of CHIPS funding to companies like Intel."
The firm declined to name its client. But it has done work in the past for Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's longtime rival, which has raised similar concerns about whether federal funding should go to companies that plan to build empty shells. A spokesman for AMD said it had not reviewed the email or approved the public relations firm's efforts to lobby for or against any specific company receiving funding. "We fully support the CHIPS and Science Act and the efforts of the Biden administration to boost domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing," the spokesman said. Rival semiconductor suppliers and their customers pulled together last year as they lobbied Congress to help shore up U.S. chip manufacturing and reduce vulnerabilities in the crucial supply chain. The push led lawmakers to approve the CHIPS Act, including $52 billion in subsidies to companies and research institutions as well as $24 billion or more in tax credits -- one of the biggest infusions into a single industry in decades.
The firm declined to name its client. But it has done work in the past for Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's longtime rival, which has raised similar concerns about whether federal funding should go to companies that plan to build empty shells. A spokesman for AMD said it had not reviewed the email or approved the public relations firm's efforts to lobby for or against any specific company receiving funding. "We fully support the CHIPS and Science Act and the efforts of the Biden administration to boost domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing," the spokesman said. Rival semiconductor suppliers and their customers pulled together last year as they lobbied Congress to help shore up U.S. chip manufacturing and reduce vulnerabilities in the crucial supply chain. The push led lawmakers to approve the CHIPS Act, including $52 billion in subsidies to companies and research institutions as well as $24 billion or more in tax credits -- one of the biggest infusions into a single industry in decades.
AMD has no standing in this discussion (Score:2)
Since it fabricates no wafers at all anymore, being only a pure design company, it is just churlishly trying to harm a more vertically integrated competitor in a discussion where AMD is irreverent.
Re:AMD has no standing in this discussion (Score:5, Insightful)
AMD has an interest in fabs being built in the U.S., and certainly with companies whose fabs they use.
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Re:AMD has no standing in this discussion (Score:4)
AMD, who buys fabrication services, is trying to ensure that US government subsidies for fabrications services... actually increase the amount of fabrication services as intended.
Pigs at the trough (Score:1)
So what proportion of the CHIPS cash (Score:3)
will end up in the pockets of the senators who respond to the lobbying ^w bribes ?
All is for naught without fabs... (Score:2, Interesting)
Without start of the art fabs, all the chip designing in the world, be it Apple, Facebook, Tik-Tok (Yes, they were apparently looking for RTL and floorplan designers), Google... pretty much everyone out there but Samsung, TSMC (which Apple has locked up all their 3mm capacity for the next year), and Intel.
There needs to be a focus on getting actual fabs. They don't have to be in the 3nm range... hell, fabs in the 20 nm range might be an ideal sweet spot for now, for most ASICs and MCUs. Until the stuff is
this is a great illustration (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:this is a great illustration (Score:5, Informative)
Well if the goal was to get more fab plants built in the US domestic area it's working
U.S. Semiconductor Renaissance: All the Upcoming Fabs [tomshardware.com]
What this illustrates is the need for more strict funding terms and enforced goals for those receiving funding, IE "we paid you to build fabs they better be operating fabs in this timeframe"
We left it to "the market" for decades and we saw a flight of the fabrication companies out of the country because their incentive of maximizing profit was not aligned with the domestic security policy of having a base of production, thus subsidies to align those incentives again.
In this case for the CHIPS act it seems like the funding was open to any company willing to put up the commitment which is fair in my opinion, the issue here is the follow-through.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey if it worked it worked, I'm not so partisan I can say Trump did no good work (I give his admin a lot of credit for Operation Warp Speed)
But, as per usual, Biden's plan is working better :)
Re: (Score:2)
They arent building much (Score:3)
Intel derelict in Austin (Score:1)
I'm remembering when Intel erected a multi-story building shell in Austin some years ago and then just left it standing like that for several years. Eventually it was torn down.
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"Bringing down the Intel Shell, Austin's monument to the dot-com crash"
https://archive.is/fdbX5 [archive.is]
"One of the longest lasting monuments to that troubled time in Austin's economic history was the so-called Intel Shell. It was a rotting skeleton of a building destined to be a major office for computing giant Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC). But it was abandoned during its construction as the economy soured. Executives with the global semiconductor chipmaker shocked residents and city officials by pulling the plug on
Prediction (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of projects get started in a lot of districts.
A lot payouts and disbursed.
A lot of projects are abandon or redesigned into something else after the shell is up like another warehouse before completion.
Fabs that do get built are tech generation behind when they finally do come on line and the cutting edge stuff continues to be produced where it is now.
None of the disbursements will be clawed back. Nothing will be achieved but some deficit growth.
This needs to be taken care of on the tariff and market access side. This companies excel at financial engineering as well as chip engineering. If we really want them to bring the manufacturing home we need to make it very expensive to bring both finished goods with the target components and the components themselves across the US border. Yes that will drive inflation, it might even mean another data center gets built in Ireland and not Virginia because compute gets to expensive to buy in the US those are likely short term results. But the realtiy is ultimately someone is going to WANT the US market and will build whatever they have to in order to get it.
Its a lot harder to evade broad import taxes than it is to make a bunch of promises collect a check and disappear.
Re: (Score:2)
This needs to be taken care of on the tariff and market access side... If we really want them to bring the manufacturing home we need to make it very expensive to bring both finished goods with the target components and the components themselves across the US border... But the reality is ultimately someone is going to WANT the US market and will build whatever they have to in order to get it.
Your US Government could contractually insist that all CPUs /ASICs on devices sold to any government agency or organisation be designed and built in the US (or maybe an approved ally). Give a 5 year timeframe for compliance.
Sounds about right (Score:2)
Welfare queens (Score:2)
These companies need to get off the taxpayer gravy train and pay their own way. Pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Buckle down and get to work. Stop eating avocado toast or buying coffee every morning. Make their dinners at home rather than going out.
At least that's what they tell us works.
offshore (Score:2)
Stock/bonus (Score:4, Insightful)
All I care about is after they receive the money, if any of it is used for these items, the company must pay 3x back to the US Gov immediately:
1. The company buys back 1 or more share, grandfathered back to 2021.
2. Increased exec bonuses grandfathered back to 2021.
3. Fires more than 1% of their employees.
4. Migrate US based jobs to any other country, grandfathered back to 2022.