Federal Support for Chip Industry ‘Overdue’: Amazon

Amazon supports U.S. policy initiatives “that focus on diversifying and expanding the semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging supply chain through building out domestic resources,” it said in comments posted Tuesday in docket BIS-2021-0036. Comments were due Monday in the Bureau of Industry and Security’s request for information on the global chip crunch to help the secretaries of Commerce and Homeland Security prepare a report for the White House by the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order on U.S. supply chains (see 2109230038). Any new policy initiatives on the chip shortage should also focus on “preserving relationships with trusted partners outside the United States, and investing in the growth of leading-edge technology capabilities,” said Amazon. “We are particularly concerned about the current lack of U.S.-based manufacturing capacity or capability to produce leading edge semiconductors at or below 7 nanometers, which creates a significant gap" in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, said the company. The “geographical diversification” of supply chains and “uninterrupted access” to semiconductor technology is “vital” to American companies, “including Amazon and our customers,” it said.