Intel and AMD Ask for Government Incentives While Apple Supplier TSMC Expands to Meet Unprecedented Demand

A group of U.S. chip companies, including Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, and AMD, have today sent a letter to President Joe Biden to request "funding for incentives," while Apple supplier TSMC is undertaking a considerable expansion as chip demand outstrips supply (via Reuters).

tsmc semiconductor chip inspection 678x452

The letter to the President asked for "substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing" to be included in his economic recovery and infrastructure plans. The letter from the U.S. firms noted that the U.S. share of semiconductor manufacturing has dropped from 37 percent in 1990 to 12 percent today.

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.

Working with Congress, your administration now has a historic opportunity to fund these initiatives to make them a reality. We believe bold action is needed to address the challenges we face. The costs of inaction are high.

Intel, in particular, has suffered from a myriad of problems. With major client Apple dropping Intel for its own custom silicon, and Microsoft expected to follow suit in the near future, Intel has struggled to deliver technological innovations. This is after the company has repeatedly reported delays with its latest processors, while its main competitor, AMD, has proceeded to capture valuable market share. After a major investor pushed Intel to shake up its entire business model, the company is hoping that new CEO Pat Gelsinger will help it to find its way.

While subsidies for chip manufacturing and semiconductor research have been authorized by Congress, the quantity of funding has yet to be decided. The association of companies hopes to receive significant funding in the form of grants or tax credits to claw back market share.

The formal request comes amid a global shortage of chips, which have hampered the automotive industry and popular games consoles in particular. The majority of the supply of the constrained chips comes from Taiwan and Korea, which have come to dominate the industry in recent years.

EETimes is today reporting that unlike the U.S. firms, TSMC, Apple's main chip supplier, is raising $9 billion from bonds to expand production. The company has approved the establishment of a $186 million subsidiary in Japan to expand research on materials for three-dimensional chips, following unconfirmed reports that TSMC plans to open its first overseas chip-packaging facility in Japan. TSMC also plans to combat U.S. chip makers on home territory this year by opening a new manufacturing facility in the U.S. state of Arizona.

TSMC is currently trying to meet unprecedented demand that exceeds its production capacity as global demand for secure supplies of chips skyrockets, boosting component prices by as much as 15 percent in the past two financial quarters. The chip shortage has not severely affected Apple since TSMC gives it priority over other clients such as Microsoft, Sony, Volkswagen, and Toyota because it holds much larger orders.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple Logo Spotlight Blue

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine

Thursday April 24, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports. The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...

Top Rated Comments

now i see it Avatar
55 months ago
[HEADING=2]Intel and AMD Ask for Government Incentives Because They Don't Know How to Design Competitive Chips[/HEADING]
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jarman92 Avatar
55 months ago

When the way to wealth is to get the govt to give you other peoples money you are crazy not to be at the table. These companies are all making a perfectly rational choice. It’s where we are now (and have been for a long time).
Yup, the amount of corporate welfare in this country is unbelievable. Congress should be utilizing a lot less carrot and a lot more stick—tax the hell out of companies that ship jobs overseas or levy large financial penalties, instead of throwing money at multi-billion-dollar corporations that turn around and outsource anyway.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MauiPa Avatar
55 months ago
When you can't compete - ask for a handout. Long live free enterprise
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chucker23n1 Avatar
55 months ago

What is the image?
A wafer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer_(electronics)


I'm under the impression it's a bunch of manufacturered chips,
A few steps before that.


but I'm confused why it seems to be on a copper circle... the chips themselves are all rectangular, are they not? So why are they made as a circle
You take silicon and spin it. Therefore, you end up with a cylinder. Then you slice that into wafers.



Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HacKage Avatar
55 months ago

What is the image? I'm under the impression it's a bunch of manufacturered chips, but I'm confused why it seems to be on a copper circle... the chips themselves are all rectangular, are they not? So why are they made as a circle - aren't all the rounded edges a waste of space? Something I think is probably quite wrong...
Google "why are wafers round"
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jimbobb24 Avatar
55 months ago
When the way to wealth is to get the govt to give you other peoples money you are crazy not to be at the table. These companies are all making a perfectly rational choice. It’s where we are now (and have been for a long time).
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)