The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday.
Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year.
“As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective economic and national security,” Schmidt said.
Photo: Bloomberg
“In implementing the CHIPS and Science Act, the Department of Commerce is engaged extensively with key partners and allies, including authorities in the Republic of Korea [South Korea], Japan and Taiwan, as well as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the European Union, and the United States Trade and Technology Council and North American Leaders’ Summit,” he said.
While the office did not disclose any details about Schmidt’s trip, a senior official from the department, who asked not to be identified, said the delegation would include Sam Marullo, senior policy adviser to the office, and Frances Chang, who supervises international exchanges in the office.
Asked whether the delegation would meet Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) executives, the unnamed official said only that the department would release details at an appropriate time.
“We intend to make this a really important part of our discussions with [South] Korea, Japan and Taiwan,” the official said.
According to the CHIPS Act, the US government is to inject US$52.7 billion into the US semiconductor industry to shore up its manufacturing, and research and development strength.
Funding would include US$39 billion in subsidies for companies that build new facilities and expand production capacity in the US.
The department is reportedly planning to take applications in late June from companies eyeing the subsidies.
The department also announced the so-called National Security Guardrails, which are to ban recipients of US government subsidies from investing in most semiconductor manufacturing in foreign adversary countries — China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — for 10 years after the date of being awarded funding.
The measures also aim to limit funding recipients from engaging in joint research or technology licensing efforts with any of the four countries to develop a technology or product that raises national security concerns, it said.
TSMC is building fabs in Arizona that are to make chips using the 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer processes, with mass production scheduled to begin next year and in 2026.
The unnamed department official declined to comment on whether TSMC is seeking subsidies from the US government.
Hsinchu-based GlobalWafers Co has also begun construction of a 12-inch silicon wafer plant in Texas, with the aim of beginning mass production next year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS