The U.S. desires to assist the Philippines double its semiconductor amenities, to minimize the geographic focus of the worldwide chip provide chain, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated in a enterprise discussion board in Manila on Tuesday.
The feedback got here within the wake of a Raimondo-led commerce mission saying over $1 billion in investments by U.S. corporations within the Philippines. The commerce chief, very like U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has sought to encourage nations in Southeast Asia to deepen their funding in chipmaking and associated industries, at a time when a lot of that enterprise nonetheless occurs in Taiwan, China and South Korea.
“U.S. corporations have realized that our chip provide chain is method too concentrated in only a few international locations on the planet,” Raimondo stated. “Neglect about geopolitics, simply at that degree of focus, you recognize the outdated adage don’t put all of your eggs in a single basket. Why will we permit ourselves to be shopping for so a lot of our chips from one or two international locations? That’s why we have to diversify.”
The Biden administration has sought to scale back the U.S.’s reliance on only a few Asian nations for a lot of its chip provide, whereas on the similar time including sanctions to curb the development of China’s technological capabilities as tensions over Taiwan intensify.
The self-governing island that China claims as its territory—and which is dwelling to massive Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.—produces a lion’s share of the world’s most superior semiconductors along with South Korea, whereas mainland China is a big provider of extra mature, so-called legacy chips.
Electronics producers and chipmakers together with TSMC have sought to diversify their operations to areas together with North America, India and Southeast Asia. The Philippines has 13 semiconductor meeting, testing and packaging amenities and Raimondo stated “let’s double it.”
She didn’t supply any specifics on how the US might help in that, apart from to say it might be a pretty vacation spot for US company clients. The Southeast Asian nation is wealthy on essential minerals, she added, and companies are wanting internationally to make their provide chain extra resilient.
“There’s a second proper now in provide chain in your nation, for this entire area,” Raimondo instructed Philippine executives. “I imagine you might be on prime of the checklist.”
