Trade rules should “continue to evolve” under the Biden administration and new World Trade Organization leadership, blogged Semiconductor Industry Association Director-Global Policy Devi Keller Tuesday. U.S.-China trade tensions during the Trump administration “put into sharp relief the reality that we need stronger disciplines to tackle challenges related to state subsidies and state-owned enterprises,” she said. Cybersecurity barriers to trade, forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft are “in great need of attention at the WTO and elsewhere,” she said. Washington policymakers have the opportunity “to leverage trade policy to tackle large-scale global challenges,” like bridging the digital divide, said Keller.
Global trade rules “need to continue to evolve” under the Biden administration and new leadership at the World Trade Organization, blogged Semiconductor Industry Association Director-Global Policy Devi Keller Tuesday. U.S.-China trade tensions during the Trump administration “put into sharp relief the reality that we need stronger disciplines to tackle challenges related to state subsidies and state-owned enterprises,” she said. Cybersecurity barriers to trade, forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft are “other areas in great need of attention at the WTO and elsewhere,” she said. Washington policymakers also have the opportunity “to leverage trade policy to tackle large-scale global challenges,” like COVID-19, climate change and bridging the digital divide, said Keller. The pandemic “accentuated the importance of technology products to our societies,” she said. Tech devices “have kept people healthy, employed, and connected during this crisis,” she said. “Semiconductor innovation is the foundational technology for all these transformational products.”
There's a “historic opportunity” to fund initiatives in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research, 21 Semiconductor Industry Association board members wrote President Joe Biden Thursday. “Include in your recovery and infrastructure plan substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, in the form of grants and/or tax credits, and for basic and applied semiconductor research,” asked IBM, Intel, Qualcomm and other executives. The U.S. is “uncompetitive in attracting investments in new fab construction and our technology leadership is at risk," including for artificial intelligence and 5G/6G, they wrote. The White House didn’t comment.
The Semiconductor Industry Association wants the new administration to include substantial funding for semiconductor manufacturing and research via grants and tax credits in its economic recovery plan. In a Feb. 11 letter to President Joe Biden, SIA said its competitors worldwide have an unfair advantage due to incentives and subsidies provided by their governments. SIA said the U.S. took a step in the right direction when it passed the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, or CHIPS for America Act, in the 2021 defense bill, but it said more is needed. “Semiconductors are critical to the U.S. economy, American technology leadership, and our national security,” the letter said. “They enable the technologies needed to realize your Build Back Better goals, including smarter and safer transportation, greater broadband access, cleaner energy, and a more efficient energy grid, while also providing high-paying jobs for Americans and strengthening our advanced manufacturing base.”
The White House has “an historic opportunity” to fund initiatives in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research, 21 Semiconductor Industry Association board members wrote President Joe Biden Thursday. “Include in your recovery and infrastructure plan substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, in the form of grants and/or tax credits, and for basic and applied semiconductor research,” asked the executives from the who’s who list of major U.S. chip companies. “Bold action is needed to address the challenges we face. The costs of inaction are high.” U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing declined to 12% from 37%, they said. “This is largely because the governments of our global competitors offer significant incentives and subsidies to attract new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, while the U.S. does not.” The U.S. is “uncompetitive in attracting investments in new fab construction and our technology leadership is at risk in the race for preeminence in the technologies of the future, including artificial intelligence, 5G/6G, and quantum computing,” they said. The White House didn’t comment.
There's a “historic opportunity” to fund initiatives in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research, 21 Semiconductor Industry Association board members wrote President Joe Biden Thursday. “Include in your recovery and infrastructure plan substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, in the form of grants and/or tax credits, and for basic and applied semiconductor research,” asked IBM, Intel, Qualcomm and other executives. The U.S. is “uncompetitive in attracting investments in new fab construction and our technology leadership is at risk," including for artificial intelligence and 5G/6G, they wrote. The White House didn’t comment.
Satellite interests backed and wireless interests opposed a Satellite Industry Association call for a fixed satellite service (FSS) allocation in the 51.4-52.4 GHz band, in FCC comments Tuesday in RM-11871. Many satellite operators are developing networks and systems that would operate using feeder links in the V band, Boeing said in support of SIA. "Immediate action ... is warranted" since a global FSS allocation in the spectrum adopted at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference took effect Jan. 1, Boeing said. Amazon's Kuiper said a proposed rulemaking should be expanded to allow non-geostationary use of the spectrum, as well as geostationary, instead of initiating a second NPRM for NGSO use. NGSO and GSO providers can maximize their feeder link operations with access to the 51 GHz spectrum, it said. Hughes said the swath is domestically allocated as a shared federal and nonfederal band for terrestrial fixed and mobile wireless services, but it's largely unused by federal and nonfederal services. But CTIA said access to high-band airwaves is a major part of the U.S. 5G strategy, and the availability of such "is already heavily imbalanced towards satellite use." It said SIA's effort would "forestall steady progress that the U.S. has made in identifying and licensing high-band spectrum for mobile terrestrial use." SIA's petition said FSS in 51 GHz can share with other services while protecting passive services in adjacent bands.
Expect some commercial space policy changes, but not dramatic ones, from President Joe Biden's White House and acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's FCC, experts told us. Many see the FCC under Rosenworcel's interim leadership likely to act to advance the orbital debris Further NPRM. The FCC didn't comment.
Global semiconductor sales reached $439 billion in 2020, up 6.5% from 2019, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. Sales of $117.5 billion in Q4 were 8.3% higher than the 2019 quarter and up 3.5% sequentially. Sales in 2020 were up “moderately” from 2019, “weathering a challenging macroeconomic environment brought on by the pandemic and other factors,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. Though global semiconductor demand is on the rise, U.S. share of worldwide chip production declined to 12% in 2020, from 37% in 1990, he said: “That disparity will only intensify without U.S. government action to level the global playing field. It’s imperative the federal government fully fund incentives for domestic chip manufacturing and investments in chip research.”
Global semiconductor sales reached $439 billion in 2020, up 6.5% from 2019, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. Sales of $117.5 billion in Q4 were 8.3% higher than the 2019 quarter and up 3.5% sequentially. Sales in 2020 were up “moderately” from 2019, “weathering a challenging macroeconomic environment brought on by the pandemic and other factors,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. Though global semiconductor demand is on the rise, U.S. share of worldwide chip production declined to 12% in 2020, from 37% in 1990, he said: “That disparity will only intensify without U.S. government action to level the global playing field. It’s imperative the federal government fully fund incentives for domestic chip manufacturing and investments in chip research.”