This decade has seen the restructuring of the global semiconductor supply chain. Market forces such as the race for electric vehicles (EVs) and artificial intelligence (AI) have clashed with geopolitical forces like the COVID pandemic, trade wars, and other conflicts. To that end, governments around the world are working to build up, or build independence into, their supply chains. While significant focus is on cuttingedge compute and nano-scale CMOS, power electronics funding is an important piece of many of these initiatives. Our very first Industry Column article was about the United States’ approach in the form of the CHIPS and Science act [1]—but four years makes a big difference, and the U.S. Government is reshuffling its deck as many other governments contemplate updated versions of their respective strategies. Funding isn’t going just towards building manufacturing sites—investments in IP development, talent, and cross-functional partnerships are also happening. This article highlights select initiatives across the world, highlighting the partnerships and strategies that are being used and how they may shape our industry in the years to come.
A typical semiconductor product will source materials and processes from all over the world, with products likely crossing through export control over half a dozen times before it is sold as a packaged device [2]. Consider a hypothetical fabless GaN (Gallium Nitride) company that may design a device in the United States, then contract with a foundry in perhaps Europe or Taiwan to manufacture the device. The foundry needs GaN-on-Silicon wafers that almost certainly require material from China (source of 95% of the worlds Gallium Nitride), for the GaN precursors used in the epitaxy step of depositing GaN on silicon. MOSFET devices may then be packaged and tested in Southeast Asia at an OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor and Test) company, tested at the same or different OSAT, with final inventory stored in a variety of distribution locations, before being shipped to the fabless company’s customers all over the world. Hundreds of permutations of such border crossings can exist—even at companies that own multiple steps of the manufacturing process at locations scattered across the globe, such as Texas Instruments or Infineon. So, how are countries that already have a comfortable spot in this supply chain stepping up—and how are others trying to win a place at the table?
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