Oppositions to Satellite Industry Association (SIA), Iridium and SpaceX petitions for reconsideration of the FCC's Part 25 satellite rules order, adopted 5-0 in November (see 2011180043), are due May 6, replies 10 days later, says Wednesday's Federal Register. In a meeting with International Bureau staff, satellite industry representatives said the order's requirement that earth station operators must re-coordinate with upper microwave flexible-use service if buildout of a station takes more than year "will create great uncertainty, potential delays, and unnecessarily increased costs." They said the requirement is procedurally flawed, since nothing like it was proposed in the NPRM. At the meeting were representatives of SIA, SpaceX, Spire, SES, ABS, EchoStar, Lynk, Amazon, Intelsat, AST & Science, Planet, AWS, Boeing, Telesat and Inmarsat, said a docket 18-314 ex parte post.

Federal funding and public private partnerships and subsidies are keys to building long-term U.S. competitiveness in the semiconductor industry, commented PC market share leaders HP and Dell Technologies, plus contract manufacturer Foxconn, in postings Tuesday in docket BIS-2021-0011. Comments were due Monday in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security inquiry to help shape recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks (see 2103110054). Public and private sector investments in “people and education” are a good “first step” in developing “a ready and trained workforce that can sustain a U.S. semiconductor ecosystem,” said Foxconn in a rare public policy statement. “Decades of outsourcing has taken its toll on a semiconductor ready workforce,” said the self-described world’s largest electronics manufacturer. SIA also commented (see 2104060064)

Federal funding and public private partnerships and subsidies are keys to building long-term U.S. competitiveness in the semiconductor industry, commented PC market share leaders HP and Dell Technologies, plus contract manufacturer Foxconn, in postings Tuesday in docket BIS-2021-0011. Comments were due Monday in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security inquiry to help shape recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks (see 2103110054). Public and private sector investments in “people and education” are a good “first step” in developing “a ready and trained workforce that can sustain a U.S. semiconductor ecosystem,” said Foxconn in a rare public policy statement. “Decades of outsourcing has taken its toll on a semiconductor ready workforce,” said the self-described world’s largest electronics manufacturer. SIA also commented (see 2104060064)

The U.S. should adopt “smart policies” to eliminate or reduce “vulnerabilities” in the global semiconductor supply chain “and enhance the U.S. economy, national security, and supply chain resilience,” the Semiconductor Industry Association told the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Comments due Monday in docket BIS-2021-0011 will help shape recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve supply chain bottlenecks (see 2103110054). Though “geographic specialization” in semiconductor production “served the industry and its consumers well, it has also created potential vulnerabilities in the global value chain,” said SIA. The industry features more than 50 “points” across the value chain “where one region holds more than 65% of the global market share,” it said. About three-quarters of global chip manufacturing capacity is concentrated in China and East Asia, “a region significantly exposed to high seismic activity and geopolitical tensions and lack of fresh water and power,” it said: Virtually all the world’s “highly advanced” semiconductor manufacturing capacity is based in Taiwan (92%) and South Korea (8%). The global value chain features “single points of failure” susceptible to “natural disasters, infrastructure shutdowns, or geopolitical conflicts and may cause large-scale interruptions in the supply of essential chips,” said SIA. “Geopolitical tensions may result in trade restrictions that impair access to crucial providers of essential technology, unique raw materials, tools, and products that are clustered in certain countries.” The association fears those restrictions could result “in a significant loss of scale and compromising the industry’s ability to sustain the current levels of R&D and capital intensity needed to maintain the current pace of innovation.” The smart policies the U.S. government will need to deploy to mitigate the multiple vulnerabilities should include “targeted investments to fill high-risk gaps,” plus collaborating with “allies and partners globally to strengthen supply chains,” said SIA. “The semiconductor industry needs targeted government policies and incentives.” The U.S. government should work through existing “multilateral and plurilateral forums,” including the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “to coordinate key semiconductor supply-chain related issues,” it said: Supply-chain resilience, cybersecurity, joint R&D, export controls, intellectual property protection, subsidies and market access barriers should top the list of priorities. SIA urged a U.S. goal of achieving “a more diversified geographical footprint by building additional semiconductor and unique raw material manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and expanding the production sites and domestic sources of supply for unique and critical materials.”

The U.S. should adopt “smart policies” to eliminate or reduce “vulnerabilities” in the global semiconductor supply chain “and enhance the U.S. economy, national security, and supply chain resilience,” the Semiconductor Industry Association told the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Comments due Monday in docket BIS-2021-0011 will help shape recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve supply chain bottlenecks (see 2103110054). Though “geographic specialization” in semiconductor production “served the industry and its consumers well, it has also created potential vulnerabilities in the global value chain,” said SIA. The industry features more than 50 “points” across the value chain “where one region holds more than 65% of the global market share,” it said. About three-quarters of global chip manufacturing capacity is concentrated in China and East Asia, “a region significantly exposed to high seismic activity and geopolitical tensions and lack of fresh water and power,” it said: Virtually all the world’s “highly advanced” semiconductor manufacturing capacity is based in Taiwan (92%) and South Korea (8%). The global value chain features “single points of failure” susceptible to “natural disasters, infrastructure shutdowns, or geopolitical conflicts and may cause large-scale interruptions in the supply of essential chips,” said SIA. “Geopolitical tensions may result in trade restrictions that impair access to crucial providers of essential technology, unique raw materials, tools, and products that are clustered in certain countries.” The association fears those restrictions could result “in a significant loss of scale and compromising the industry’s ability to sustain the current levels of R&D and capital intensity needed to maintain the current pace of innovation.” The smart policies the U.S. government will need to deploy to mitigate the multiple vulnerabilities should include “targeted investments to fill high-risk gaps,” plus collaborating with “allies and partners globally to strengthen supply chains,” said SIA. “The semiconductor industry needs targeted government policies and incentives.” The U.S. government should work through existing “multilateral and plurilateral forums,” including the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “to coordinate key semiconductor supply-chain related issues,” it said: Supply-chain resilience, cybersecurity, joint R&D, export controls, intellectual property protection, subsidies and market access barriers should top the list of priorities. SIA urged a U.S. goal of achieving “a more diversified geographical footprint by building additional semiconductor and unique raw material manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and expanding the production sites and domestic sources of supply for unique and critical materials.”

The U.S. should adopt “smart policies” to eliminate or reduce “vulnerabilities” in the global semiconductor supply chain “and enhance the U.S. economy, national security, and supply chain resilience,” the Semiconductor Industry Association told the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Comments due Monday in docket BIS-2021-0011 will help shape recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve supply chain bottlenecks (see 2103110054).

The Commerce Department should be careful not to place unilateral export restrictions on semiconductors and should invest heavily in domestic chip innovation, technology companies told the agency in comments due this week. But at least one think tank urged Commerce to pursue more strict controls and argued that decoupling from China along the semiconductor supply chain is inevitable.

February semiconductor revenue increased 14.7% year on year, reaching $36.9 billion globally, but was down 1% from January sales of $40 billion, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. “Global semiconductor sales during the first two months of the year have outpaced sales from early in 2020, when the pandemic began to spread in parts of the world,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. “Sales into the China market saw the largest year-to-year growth, largely because sales there were down substantially early last year.”

February semiconductor revenue increased 14.7% year on year, reaching $36.9 billion globally, but was down 1% from January sales of $40 billion, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. “Global semiconductor sales during the first two months of the year have outpaced sales from early in 2020, when the pandemic began to spread in parts of the world,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. “Sales into the China market saw the largest year-to-year growth, largely because sales there were down substantially early last year.”

February semiconductor revenue increased 14.7% year on year, reaching $36.9 billion globally, but was down 1% from January sales of $40 billion, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. “Global semiconductor sales during the first two months of the year have outpaced sales from early in 2020, when the pandemic began to spread in parts of the world,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. “Sales into the China market saw the largest year-to-year growth, largely because sales there were down substantially early last year.”