Explore the Issue
Protecting our security and building our capability
Why Are Semiconductors Important?
Technology has never been more essential to daily life, with four key superpowers―cloud, mobility fueled by 5G, artificial intelligence and the intelligent edge―set to transform the world. Semiconductors are essential to all of those.
- The adoption of digital technologies has been further accelerated by the pandemic, as the worlds of work, education and entertainment shift to online formats.
- Computing permeates all our interactions―the global communications network, every retail experience, vehicle, hospital, farm and factory floor― creating societal and economic value around the globe. It also powers the advanced technologies that keep us safe.
- Our ability to meet this increase in the need for computing power depends on semiconductors. In addition to their importance to the economy and keeping us safe, they represent the fifth-largest U.S. export sector, supporting a quarter million US jobs directly and over a million indirectly.
Our Shared Opportunity
Developing a sustainable domestic semiconductor supply chain offers many benefits, including enhanced national security, economic growth and an innovation ecosystem that will create the jobs of the future.
Our Plan to Help Close the Gap
Intel is committed to helping meet the growing global demand by expanding our manufacturing capacity in order to strengthen global supply chains. This commitment would begin with a $20 billion investment to create large-scale foundry operations in Arizona and a $3.5 billion manufacturing investment in New Mexico.
We plan on making additional capital investments to expand manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and abroad to meet demand. Our goals are ambitious, and to accomplish them we will need support and investment from the federal government to increase our domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity on the scale needed.
While some nations’ governments have aggressively promoted the development of semiconductor manufacturing, the U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing has declined from 37% in 1990 to 12% today.
By reestablishing the U.S. as a semiconductor leader, we will invest in American jobs, champion domestic R&D and innovation, and increase our technology and manufacturing capabilities.
(Source: SIA's Government Incentives and U.S. Competitiveness in Semiconductor Manufacturing)