Smartphones, 5G Depend on Robust Supply Chain: NCSC Acting Chief

Supply chain challenges have big implications for smartphones and telecom, said Michael Orlando, acting director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), during an Intelligence and National Security Alliance webinar Tuesday. A recent White House summit focused on supply chain issues (see 2104130005). A smartphone “consists of numerous components -- battery, antenna, integrated circuit, the screen,” Orlando noted. “Those components are made from raw materials” that “have to be extracted from around the world and then shipped to various factories to build those components,” he said. The components are then shipped to another factory to be assembled, he said. The supply chain has many vulnerabilities, Orlando said: “An adversary can target any point of that long, complicated process. They could cut off access to components, steal technology or introduce infected components.” The semiconductor supply chain has risen to the “top of the policy agenda” in Washington, said Semiconductor Industry Association CEO John Neuffer. Chips are “driving the technologies of the future,” including 5G and AI, he said. The best way to “provide security is through technical leadership,” and the U.S. is falling behind, said Tower Semiconductor CEO Russell Ellwanger. Within weeks of the pandemic's start, Dell got 90% of its factory capacity back, said Cameron Chehreh, chief technology officer of the federal business. “That was a direct result of the diversification in the supply chain -- prescreening suppliers” and “ensuring that we had great resiliency,” he said. That's critical as more people live online and need new computers, he said.