Boosting Semiconductor Manufacturing in America
June 1, 2023
It was the perfect storm for the semiconductor industry. The COVID-19 pandemic stirred up major trouble in supply chains in early 2020, including disruptions in chip manufacturing in such places as South Korea and Taiwan. Meanwhile, demand for semiconductors increased, in part because the pandemic had so many people working from home and needing new computers. The result: serious shortages of chips, some of which persist to this day.
By 2022, the semiconductor industry was responding with a flurry of chip manufacturing announcements, a number of which are on the Projects of the Year awards list. Often referred to as “fabs,” these plants are all big-money investments promising big job counts. The good news is likely to continue rolling in, thanks to the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law last summer with the hope of further boosting American semiconductors R&D and chip manufacturing.