A number of American car companies suffering from chip shortages and companies involved in the semiconductor supply chain will send their executives to the White House on April 11 to attend the "Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience CEO Summit." Reuters said on the 11th that the U.S. Auto Industry Organization Once urged the government to help, White House officials emphasized that the chip has been involved in the US economy and national security.

Dozens of industry companies will attend the conference

Reuters said that White House officials confirmed that the three major U.S. automakers GM, Ford and Chrysler will attend the summit. In addition, executives from semiconductor companies such as GF, NXP and TSMC will all attend. Participants also included Jay Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Dees, Director of the National Economic Council, and Raymondo, Secretary of Commerce. Diss said in a statement that the summit reflects the urgent need to strengthen critical supply chains. Sullivan said: This shortage "causes serious national security loopholes" and "becomes a perfect example of the Biden administration's urgent need to prioritize economic and national security issues."

US President Biden in February this year ordered several federal agencies to take action to resolve the chip crisis and seek huge funds to promote legislation for the US chip manufacturing industry. "The Wall Street Journal" reported on the 9th that Sullivan will attend the meeting, which reflects the strategic importance of semiconductors and long-term concerns about the weakening of the U.S. dominance in the industry. According to reports, the White House hopes to use the summit on the 11th as a platform to promote Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan at the end of the month. The plan includes providing 50 billion U.S. dollars to the US semiconductor industry to help factory construction, research and design. Support for the semiconductor industry has gained bipartisan support in the US Congress. Lawmakers are worried about China’s huge expenditure on chip manufacturing capabilities, and Biden is seeking to use this to advance his agenda.

As of noon on the 9th local time, 19 major companies have agreed to send executives to the conference, including AT&T, Samsung, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Dell Technologies, Intel, medical equipment company Medtronic, military supplies and radar manufacturer Novo Srop Grumman, Hewlett-Packard, diesel engine developer Cummins, and memory manufacturer Micron Technology. TSMC confirmed that it had received the invitation, but did not provide other details.

The automotive industry has a strong voice

Technological and economic observer Shunyu told the Global Times reporter on the 11th that the summit was mainly due to a substantial decrease in low-end chip production capacity caused by the epidemic, which resulted in the use of chips by customers including car companies, engine manufacturers, and medical device manufacturers. influences.

As of the beginning of April, the three major US auto companies had their production lines stopped to varying degrees due to "core shortage", and the North American plants of some Japanese auto companies were also affected. Bloomberg said that the US auto industry organization Auto Innovation Alliance last week urged the US government to help, and warned that the global semiconductor shortage may lead to a reduction of 1.28 million vehicles this year, and will suspend production in the next six months. According to Reuters, the Auto Innovation Alliance stated that the U.S. Department of Commerce should allocate a portion of its funds to meet the needs of the automotive industry in its proposal to expand semiconductor production in the United States. It is reported that the organization represents almost all major automakers with factories in the United States, including General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota and Hyundai.

Information Consumption Alliance Chairman Xiang Ligang told reporters on the 11th that some of the participating companies, including AT&T, are not in the chip industry chain, but chip consumers and demanders in the chip industry. This shows that the top management of the US government not only wants to listen to the views of the chip supply chain from the perspective of production, but also includes the views on the demand side.

On the list of participating companies, Samsung, TSMC and NXP are non-US companies. Xiang Ligang said that the current supply of automotive chips has caused a major blow to the US automotive industry. The United States needs to use a variety of forces to ensure this ability, and Samsung, NXP, TSMC and other companies are largely dependent on the United States to ensure chip supply.

The United States intends to ask for money to set up factories?

Reuters stated that U.S. President Biden hopes to invest at least $100 billion in promoting U.S. semiconductor production and funding investments to support the production of key products. However, some U.S. officials said that the funds could not meet short-term chip demand.

"What kind of payment notice will Samsung Electronics called to the White House face?" South Korea’s "Daily Business" reported on the 11th that the United States used the summit to "listen to opinions on how to solve the problem of global semiconductor shortages", but the deeper purpose is to speed up The rise of the US semiconductor industry and suppression of China's semiconductor industry. Park Jae-geun, president of the Korea Semiconductor and Display Technology Association, said that with this meeting as an opportunity, the US government is likely to pressure global semiconductor companies to increase the scale of factories in the United States and try to control the global semiconductor supply network.

The International Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Association wrote in a report submitted to the US Department of Commerce this month that the United States’ share of the global integrated circuit market has fallen from 24% in 2000 (No. 2) to 12% (No. 5) last year. , And products from Asian economies such as Taiwan, South Korea, and China account for 61% of the world’s total.