馃攳
What Samsung鈥檚 Return to U.S. Chip Manufacturing Means For the Economy | WSJ - YouTube
Channel: unknown
[0]
(upbeat music)
[1]
- This is Taylor, Texas.
[3]
And it might feel like we
are in the middle of nowhere
[6]
but we're only about a half hour
[7]
outside of one of America's
biggest boom towns, Austin.
[11]
Taylor only has about 17,000 people
[14]
and the downtown has
shrunk in recent years
[16]
but that's about to change
because of a huge investment.
[19]
- Samsung has chosen
Taylor, Texas as the site
[24]
of his new state of the art
[26]
semiconductor chip fabrication plant.
[30]
- [Rob] Last fall, Samsung
[32]
the world's largest semiconductor maker
[34]
announced that would build
[35]
a $17 billion chip fabrication
plant or fab in Taylor
[40]
creating more than 2,000 jobs.
[43]
And Samsung isn't alone,
[45]
Intel, Texas Instruments
[47]
and TSMC are also returning
[50]
their chip manufacturing to the US.
[53]
These companies were lured by
new state and local subsidies
[57]
and they could soon
receive even more money
[59]
from the federal government.
[61]
- If we'd be able to say made
in Ohio, made in America,
[66]
but we used to always be
able to say 25, 30 years ago.
[69]
That's what this is about.
[71]
- [Rob] America has
long been losing ground
[73]
in the race to make chips.
[75]
That's fueling bipartisan concerns
[77]
about our reliance on those made abroad.
[79]
And that's a problem
because semiconductors
[82]
are basically the
foundation of modern life.
[84]
They're in your car,
they're in your phone,
[87]
your laptop and even your washing machine.
[89]
But thanks to the pandemic,
[91]
chips have become harder to find.
[93]
The pandemic led to a spike
in global semiconductor sales
[97]
and that led to product
delays for consumers
[100]
and highlighted a growing problem.
[102]
America isn't anywhere near
[104]
making as many chips as it needs.
[107]
I sat down with Samsung
Executive, Jon Taylor
[110]
at the company's Austin campus.
[111]
How big is that plant going to be?
[113]
- You know, we've got
1,200 acres in Taylor
[115]
so we're gonna construct 6
million square feet of buildings.
[118]
The capacity that we're
gonna bring online in Taylor
[122]
is really gonna help us
[123]
give a lot of opportunity to our customers
[125]
and also help us to contribute
[127]
to the stability of the
semiconductor supply chain problem.
[130]
- [Rob] To woo Samsung,
[131]
local and state governments offered
[133]
a slew of financial incentives.
[135]
The City of Taylor and Williamson County
[138]
offered 90% property tax
breaks for the first 10 years.
[142]
The State of Texas threw
in $27 million of its own.
[147]
In return, Samsung offered
[148]
to make donations to local schools
[150]
and guaranteed career
help for Taylor students.
[153]
But some have questioned
[154]
if subsidies should even be necessary.
[157]
- We are debating legislation
to provide some $53 billion,
[165]
billion dollars in corporate welfare
[169]
with no strings attached
[172]
to the highly profitable
micro chip industry.
[176]
- [Rob] Samsung is one of the world's
[178]
most valuable companies,
[180]
it's worth around $388 billion.
[184]
- So we're a few miles
from downtown Austin here.
[186]
Downtown Austin is full of cranes,
[188]
big tech companies coming
that aren't getting subsidies.
[191]
They're bringing jobs here
[192]
and they're not asking
for anything in return.
[194]
Why do you need subsidies
[195]
in order to build this plant in Taylor?
[197]
If it's a great business
offer opportunity,
[199]
why not just build it?
[200]
- I think the incentive
packages certainly lure
[202]
a lot of top companies here.
[204]
It makes it a competitive advantage
[207]
not only country to country,
but just within the states.
[209]
Texas and Williamson county and the city
[212]
aren't the only areas that are
offering incentive packages.
[215]
Certainly other places
that we look did the same.
[219]
Everybody would like to be able to get
[221]
these type of projects again in their area
[223]
'cause they can see the
economic development
[226]
that will happen
[226]
and that's generational development too.
[229]
This is not just short term,
[230]
it's really a long term investment.
[232]
- [Rob] Samsung recently broke ground
[234]
on the Taylor site
[235]
and the company said it's fab
[236]
would be up and running
by the end of 2024.
[239]
James Lewis is a technology
and public policy researcher
[243]
at CSIS, a DC think tank.
[246]
- Countries we have to
worry about are China.
[249]
- China, basically China.
[250]
- What happens to the American economy
[253]
or to the American consumers
ability to buy things
[256]
if China decides that they
don't want Taiwan shipping
[259]
quite as many any chips to the US?
[261]
- If China were decide
[263]
to cut off supplies from
Taiwan of semiconductors,
[267]
it would cripple the global economy.
[269]
- [Rob] In 1990, the
US and Europe produced
[271]
more than 75% of the world semiconductors.
[275]
Now, they produce less than a quarter.
[277]
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China
[281]
are squeezing out the West.
[282]
If those trends hold,
[284]
by 2030 China will become the
world's largest chip maker.
[288]
Aggravating matters is the
sheer thirst for chips in the US
[292]
even though domestic
production has fallen,
[294]
demand for chips at home remain sky high.
[298]
As of 2019, nearly half
of all chips world wide
[301]
were bought by US companies.
[303]
- Are there any examples from history
[306]
of America ramping up production
[308]
of something like semiconductors
[310]
and being able to displace
some of those imports?
[312]
- You know, the idea that
we would use policy solution
[317]
to increase production is not a new one
[319]
and it's industrial policy
[321]
which used to be a
dirty word in Washington
[323]
now you can say it railroads on airplanes,
[328]
spacecraft and semiconductors themselves.
[331]
All these grew out of
government investments.
[333]
- America invented these chips
[336]
and federal research and development
[338]
led to the creation of these chips.
[340]
Taxpayer dollars.
[342]
Over 30 years ago,
[343]
America had about 40%
of global production.
[346]
But since that time something happened.
[349]
American manufacturing,
[351]
the backbone of our
economy got hollowed out.
[354]
- [Rob] In the past,
[355]
the US didn't have federal
incentives for chip making.
[358]
On the other hand,
[359]
Asian countries typically
offer cheap land to chip makers
[363]
and subsidized manufacturing equipment.
[365]
- That's one of the reasons that our share
[368]
of chip manufacturing has declined.
[370]
Everyone else subsidizes, we don't.
[373]
The Chinese in particular
have been willing to dump
[376]
tens of billions of
dollars into subsidies.
[379]
And so everyone has figured out,
[381]
this is a strategic industry,
[383]
government can play a role by
accelerating investment in it.
[387]
- [Rob] The Biden
administration in Congress
[389]
have set in motion
legislation to provide funding
[392]
to stimulate investment in the US.
[394]
In June, the Senate approved $52 billion
[398]
in direct subsidies for new
semiconductor factories.
[401]
The house has yet to take action.
[403]
- Don't think of dollars,
think of aircraft carriers.
[406]
You want a fab,
[407]
that's two or three
aircraft carriers, right?
[410]
We're talking huge investments
to build these things.
[413]
- And by comparing it
to an aircraft carrier,
[415]
you're comparing it to national defense.
[417]
You're saying this can
be as valuable for us
[419]
as another aircraft carrier.
[421]
- In fact, it's more valuable for us.
[422]
Chips are more valuable for us
[424]
than another aircraft carrier.
[425]
It's the chips industry
that is now underpinning
[428]
the whole digital economy.
[430]
- [Rob] In March, the CEOs
[431]
of major semiconductor companies
[433]
testified at a Senate hearing
about the chip shortage.
[437]
They also encourage lawmakers
to pass the Chips Act.
[441]
- In 1990, 80% of semiconductors
[443]
were built in US and Europe.
[445]
Today, 80% is in Asia
with only 12% in the US
[450]
and half of that being Intel.
[452]
Asian countries moved aggressively
[454]
to attract this industry with
strong and center policies.
[457]
Assuming we received
support from the Chips Act,
[459]
the total investment
from the site could grow
[461]
to as much as 100 billion
over the next decade.
[465]
We have also thrown our
factory doors open wide
[467]
to provide capacity for US
and global foundry companies.
[471]
We seek to rebuild the entire
supply chain on US soil.
[475]
- [Rob] One thing is for sure
[476]
the chip shortage is far from over.
[479]
Last month, Intel Chief Gelsinger
[481]
said the shortage would
extend into 2024 or beyond.
[484]
(upbeat music)
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage