The White House should take “technology-neutral action” to resolve the semiconductor shortage without playing favorites among the various tech sectors, Telecommunications Industry Association CEO David Stehlin wrote President Joe Biden Wednesday. “America’s broadband networks and the secure deployment of new technologies such as 5G are vital to U.S. interests, necessitating a level playing field." As Biden weighs an executive order addressing supply chain fixes for the chip shortage (see 2102120022), “we strongly encourage a balanced approach to U.S. government action that does not favor one sector over others,” the TIA chief said. The White House didn’t comment.
House Communications Subcommittee Democrats and Republicans cited conflicting priorities for addressing broadband in COVID-19 and infrastructure bills during Wednesday's hearing, as expected (see 2102160067). Democrats focused on their proposed $7.6 billion for remote E-rate as part of a pandemic-focused budget reconciliation package and on plans to seek broadband funding in a coming infrastructure bill. Republicans criticized aspects of those plans, citing alternatives they issued this week focused partly on streamlining regulations to speed up broadband deployment.
Trade rules should “continue to evolve” under the Biden administration and new World Trade Organization leadership, blogged Semiconductor Industry Association Director-Global Policy Devi Keller Tuesday. U.S.-China trade tensions during the Trump administration “put into sharp relief the reality that we need stronger disciplines to tackle challenges related to state subsidies and state-owned enterprises,” she said. Cybersecurity barriers to trade, forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft are “in great need of attention at the WTO and elsewhere,” she said. Washington policymakers have the opportunity “to leverage trade policy to tackle large-scale global challenges,” like bridging the digital divide, said Keller.
The global shortage of semiconductors is “one of the central motivations” for the executive order President Joe Biden will sign “in the coming weeks” to begin a “comprehensive review of supply chains for critical goods,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a media briefing Thursday. The review will focus on “identifying the immediate actions we can take, from improving the physical production of those items in the U.S. to working with allies to develop a coordinated response to the weaknesses and bottlenecks that are hurting American workers,” she said. The administration is “currently identifying potential choke points in the supply chain and actively working alongside key stakeholders in industry and with our trading partners to do more now,” said Psaki. Her disclosure of a coming EO on the semiconductor shortage came the same day top U.S. chipmakers wrote Biden urging his support for tax credits to fund U.S. manufacturing and R&D (see 2102110023). The Semiconductor Industry Association, which orchestrated the letter to the White House, didn’t comment Friday.
Smartphone market “conditions and visibility” began improving in 2020's second half, as consumers and handset OEMs “adjusted to the new COVID environment,” said Pixelworks CEO Todd DeBonis Q4 call Thursday. It was a “down year” for the handset industry, he said. Global smartphone unit shipments fell 8% from 2019. Pixelworks supplies video processing chips and software to makers of mainstream-priced smartphones. Oppo and TCL are its top customers. Handset OEMs “delayed or canceled numerous planned phone launches” in 2020, said DeBonis. Though the rollout of 5G-enabled smartphones began to gain momentum in the second half of the year, “total 5G units shipped proved to be much lower than was forecast entering 2020,” he said. A “notable trend” during 2020 was the introduction of the first mainstream handsets to feature higher frame rate displays, “coupled with a broader shift by OEMs from LCD to OLED displays due to an increased availability and more competitive pricing,” he said. Pixelworks technology was embedded into 16 handset models from seven OEMs in 2020, compared with six smartphone models launched across four OEMs in 2019, he said. The rollout of 5G phones will become “more pervasive” in 2021, said DeBonis. High-quality video and gaming are “the most obvious applications for leveraging the substantially higher bandwidth and low latency of 5G in mobile devices,” he said. Market data suggests “the global consumer appetite for $1,000-plus phones is shrinking,” he said. “We expect mobile OEMs to aggressively push 5G technology down the cost curve to lower price models.”
There's a “historic opportunity” to fund initiatives in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research, 21 Semiconductor Industry Association board members wrote President Joe Biden Thursday. “Include in your recovery and infrastructure plan substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, in the form of grants and/or tax credits, and for basic and applied semiconductor research,” asked IBM, Intel, Qualcomm and other executives. The U.S. is “uncompetitive in attracting investments in new fab construction and our technology leadership is at risk," including for artificial intelligence and 5G/6G, they wrote. The White House didn’t comment.
Apple remained the world’s top semiconductor customer in 2020, comprising 11.9% of global chip spending, reported Gartner Tuesday. Samsung was second with 8.1% share, and Huawei barely inched out Lenovo for third with 4.2% share, it said. Huawei significantly decreased its semiconductor spending in 2020 to $19.09 billion, down 23.5% from 2019, said Gartner. Trump administration export restrictions on Huawei limited its ability to buy semiconductors, but the Chinese market “remains important for semiconductor vendors, as other Chinese smartphone OEMs stepped in to fill the vacuum created by Huawei in the second half,” said analyst Masatsune Yamaji.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and others cited the 25th anniversary Monday of the Telecom Act’s signing as a jumping-off point for a range of communications and tech policy proposals for this year, including the need for more broadband funding in coming legislation. Some noted the importance of the ongoing debate over revamping Communications Decency Act Section 230, enacted as part of the 1996 law.
Reinstate broadband internet access service's Title II telecom service classification and reestablish net neutrality rules, Incompas asked the FCC in a docket 17-108 filing emailed Friday. Larger providers have "the incentive and ability to harm competition and consumers as they have done in the past and will continue to do so in the future" if the commission doesn't reinstate the rules under Communications Act Title II, Incompas said in its petition for reconsideration on the commission's 2017 net neutrality repeal (see 2101070067). "It's time for the FCC to right a wrong, look to the future, and listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans who support bipartisan open internet protections," said CEO Chip Pickering.
The production capacity shortage in global semiconductors “appears to be a long-term phenomenon” spanning many industries but seems worst in the automotive sector, Himax CEO Jordan Wu told a quarterly call Thursday. “The shortage has become more severe.” The integrated circuit maker “engaged early,” leveraging its “long-term business relationships” with foundries and “back-end suppliers,” and “successfully secured more capacity for 2021, compared to the level of Q4," he said (see Q4 materials here). The company’s “aim” is to “fully utilize the capacity accessible to us” through its network of foundries. There’s little likelihood of a “significant” industry capacity increase “anytime soon,” he said. “Strong demand is likely to persist longer than expected.” Another “impressive quarter of high growth” is expected for notebooks, said the executive, citing "persistent remote working and e-learning.”