Apple, Microsoft, and many other big tech companies today announced the formation of the Semiconductors in America Coalition (SIAC) lobbying group, whose first order of business was lending its support to the CHIPS for America Act.
The companies said in a press release that SIAC’s “mission is to advance federal policies that promote semiconductor manufacturing and research in the U.S. to strengthen America’s economy, national security, and critical infrastructure.”
Supporting the CHIPS for America Act is a logical first step. SIAC explained in its press release that the act, which was introduced in June 2020, would “appropriate $50 billion for domestic chip manufacturing incentives and research initiatives.”
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and President Joe Biden have both lent their support to the act, which was approved by the House and the Senate as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 but has not yet been funded.
SIAC wants to secure that funding. It said in a letter to Congressional leadership:
“The current shortage of semiconductors is impacting a broad range of industries throughout the economy. To address this problem in the short term, government should refrain from intervening as industry works to correct the current supply-demand imbalance causing the shortage. But for the longer term, robust funding of the CHIPS Act would help America build the additional capacity necessary to have more resilient supply chains to ensure critical technologies will be there when we need them. Manufacturing incentives funded by Congress should focus on filling key gaps in our domestic semiconductor ecosystem and cover the full range of semiconductor technologies and process nodes – from legacy to leading-edge – relied on by industry, the military, and critical infrastructure.”
SIAC counts seemingly every company that designs, manufactures, or uses semiconductors among its members. The full list—which includes 64 members split into four groups—can be found on the group’s website. Here are a few standouts:
- TSMC
- Intel
- AMD
- Nvidia
- Arm
- Samsung
- Qualcomm
- Broadcom
- AWS
And many others besides. It turns out nothing brings companies together quite like the prospect of receiving—or helping their suppliers receive—$50 billion to help address the chip shortage that’s affecting practically every aspect of the industry.
