Comments are due March 25 in docket DOC–2021–0010 in the Commerce Department’s request for information with its National Institute of Standards and Technology to help the “planning and design” of “potential programs” authorized under the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to promote investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and R&D, said an item in Monday’s Federal Register. In a detailed, five-page RFI, Commerce wants to know how incentives written into NDAA Section 9902 can “be designed and deployed to encourage additional and new private capital investment in the semiconductor ecosystem.” It seeks input on how federal funds can “incentivize the creation of a broad semiconductor ecosystem that includes producers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and other upstream suppliers.” Section 9906 would establish a National Semiconductor Technology Center as “a hub (or multiple hubs) of talent, knowledge, investment, equipment, and toolsets,” said the notice. Commerce wants to know “what attributes or capabilities of the NSTC would make it attractive and beneficial for companies, universities, and other agencies to want to send employees for assignments” there. It also wants to know what types of research and training opportunities should be made available at the NSTC “for students and early career staff.”
Commerce’s Sept. 24 request for information into the global semiconductor shortage (see 2109230038) found semiconductor demand “continues to far outstrip supply,” reported the department Tuesday. “Median demand for chips highlighted by buyers was as much as 17% higher in 2021 than 2019, and buyers aren’t seeing commensurate increases in the supply.” Secretary Gina Raimondo blogged that it's “essential that Congress move swiftly” to pass the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. The median inventory of semiconductor products highlighted by buyers fell to fewer than five days in 2021 from 40 days in 2019, said Commerce. Inventories are even smaller in “key industries,” like broadband, it said. The agency will “capitalize” on the data gleaned from the RFI “to engage industry on node-specific problem-solving in the coming weeks,” said the report.
Senate Commerce Committee officials are hoping they will be able to act next week on Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, after repeated delays in scheduling an advancement vote over the past two months. The committee is eyeing including Sohn and Democratic FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya (see 2201240055) on the agenda for a potential Feb. 2 executive session, Senate aides and communications lobbyists told us. Opponents hope the delays resulted in traction for their ethics concerns about Sohn’s role as a board member for Locast operator Sports Fans Coalition (see 2201130071).
President Joe Biden and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger used Intel’s announcement Friday of its $20 billion investment to build two semiconductor fabs in central Ohio to appeal for passing the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and USICA's authorization of federal funding under the Chips Act. In the U.S., “we barely produce 10%” of the world’s chips, “despite being the leader in chip design and research, and we don’t have the ability to make the most advanced chips,” Biden told a White House news briefing. As “historic” as Intel’s announcement is, enacting the USICA “is an important part of today’s message,” he said. USICA “includes a $52 billion incentive for more companies to build their manufacturing facilities” in the U.S., said Biden. “I want other cities and states to be able to make announcements like the one being made here today. That’s why I want to see Congress pass this bill right away and get it to my desk.” He vowed his administration “will use all the tools we have to reshore our supply chains, strengthen our economic resilience and make more in America.” Intel "can’t do it alone,” its chief said. Congress needs to “finish the job” by approving the Chips Act funding, said Gelsinger. “Our announcement today is motivated by the Chips Act.”
Thirteen licensors populate the one-stop patent pool for ATSC 3.0 technologies that MPEG LA launched Thursday, as was expected recently after about three and a half years of development (see 2112100004).
Apple generated 22% of Q4 global smartphone shipments on strong iPhone 13 demand; Samsung followed at 20%, said a preliminary Canalys report Tuesday. Supply chain problems and COVID-19 limited overall shipment growth to 1%. Apple had “unprecedented” iPhone sales in mainland China on “aggressive pricing,” said the research firm. Though Apple’s supply chain is “starting to recover,” it was forced to cut production in Q4 due to shortages of key components, but supply chain disruptions affected low-end vendors the most, said analyst Nicole Peng. “Component manufacturers are eking out additional production, but it will take years for major foundries to significantly increase chip capacity.” Smartphone brands are responding by tweaking device specifications in response to available materials, approaching emerging chipmakers to secure new sources for ICs, focusing product lines on best-selling models and staggering new product releases, she said: Bottlenecks won't ease until the second half.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. expects the chip industry’s supply chain “to maintain a higher level of inventory” in 2022, compared with “historical” trends, due to “the industry's continued need to ensure supply security,” said CEO C.C. Wei on a Q4 call Thursday. TSMC had Q4 revenue in U.S. dollars of $15.74 billion, up 5.8% sequentially. The U.S. shares closed up 5.3% at $139.19. Though the short-term demand-supply imbalance “may or may not persist, we continue to observe the structural increase in long-term semiconductor demand underpinned by the industry megatrend” of 5G and high-performance computing applications, said Wei. “We also observed the higher silicon content in many end devices, including automotive, PCs, servers, networking and smartphones. As a result, we expect our capacity to remain tight throughout 2022.” The rising deployment of 5G smartphones “will fuel a massive requirement for computation power,” he said.
CSG hires Rasmani Bhattacharya, ex-Gates Corp., as general counsel ... FCC’s Zac Champ, chief of staff at Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, also now is acting deputy chief, CGB’s Consumer Policy Division ... Cable Center promotes Diane Christman to president-CEO, succeeding Jana Henthorn, who retired in December.
Expanding manufacturing capacities with a “focus on end-sector needs” leads a list of Semi “recommendations” for bolstering semiconductor supply chain resilience in Europe, said the association Wednesday. Expanding Europe’s growth of semiconductor production capacities “must be guided by a clear, future-oriented approach,” said Semi. Amid the increasing demand for “advanced semiconductor components” in automotive, health, telecom and other sectors, Europe’s “mid-term strategy” to increase production capacity should be focused on end-user sectors “with strong presence in Europe,” it said. This will let European chipmakers “identify technological shortcomings,” and drive production of advanced semiconductors “in line with technological progress and evolving needs of industries in Europe and globally,” it said: The long-term goal is for European chipmakers “to secure 20% of global production capacities by 2030,” with a focus on promoting the manufacturing of “advanced technology nodes.”
The Chinese Wi-Fi IoT market is projected to expand at a 29% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, reaching 916.6 million connections in 2026 from 252 million in 2021, reported ABI Research Wednesday. COVID-19 pandemic-induced remote work fueled consumer demand for “cohesive home environments,” stimulating the growth of smart home applications enabled by IoT devices using Wi-Fi connectivity, it said. “To meet the surging Wi-Fi demand, the Chinese market has been ramping up manufacturing capabilities through support plans provided by the government and the emergence of new vendors to ease the strain felt from the global chip shortage,” said analyst Andrew Zignani. ABI forecasts the global Wi-Fi IoT market will grow to 6.7 billion connections by 2026, nearly a threefold increase from 2021, it said: “With a population strength of around 1.4 billion, China alone makes up approximately 40% of the global Wi-Fi IoT market. This indicates the strong prospects for the Chinese Wi-Fi ecosystem, where Wi-Fi-enabled applications and services would be driven by the proliferation of IoT.”