Although Europe is also providing subsidies to chip manufacturers to establish factories, the American Chips Act undoubtedly ranks among the forefront globally.
Currently, Intel, TSMC, and Samsung all plan to establish the most advanced chip manufacturing factories in the United States, which will make more future advanced chips labeled as "Made in America".
According to predictions, by 2032, nearly 30% of global advanced chips with a process node of 10nm or less will be produced by the United States, while mainland China will only account for 2% of global advanced chip production.
The U.S. government passed the Chips Act in 2022, which includes $39 billion for building chip production facilities in the United States to reduce reliance on Asian supply chains.
According to some reports, these funds will start generating returns in the next decade.
In 2022, the United States only accounted for 10% of global chip production capacity, with most of the capacity located in Asia, but it is expected that over the next decade, the capacity of U.S. wafer fabs will grow by 203%.
By 2032, the United States will account for 14% of global chip production capacity.
As for advanced chips, i.e., those with a process node of 10nm or less, the United States will also make significant progress in the next decade.
The three major chip foundries have confirmed plans to build factories in the United States, including TSMC, Intel, and Samsung, and have committed to producing the most advanced chips in the United States.
Therefore, by 2032, the production capacity of advanced chips in the United States will reach 28% of the global total.
Although it may not be comparable to the Asian region (especially Taiwan and South Korea), the United States has largely reduced its dependence on Asian chips.
Another important reason is the change in attitude of chip manufacturers under the Chips Act.
Take TSMC as an example. Originally planning to produce 3nm chips in its U.S. wafer fab, after receiving a $6.6 billion subsidy from the U.S. government, TSMC changed its plans and decided to produce 2nm chips in the United States in the future.
Samsung is also following suit. After receiving a $6.4 billion subsidy, its factory in Texas will mass-produce 2nm chips.
As for advanced chips in China, although the government provides substantial subsidies, due to the huge gap in technology and equipment, currently only some of Huawei's chips use the 7nm process of domestic chip foundries, and the manufacturing equipment used is still ASML's DUV lithography machine, which costs much more than that of other foundries.
However, on a global scale, these numbers are insignificant.
Chinese companies are progressing slowly in more advanced processes because they still rely on overseas equipment.
There are voices expressing that if the Chinese chip industry cannot make breakthroughs by 2025, it will be difficult to catch up with overseas levels.
Although Chinese companies have strong capabilities in chip design, making progress in the field of advanced chips still faces significant challenges due to the lack of EUV lithography machines, which hinder their influence.
Especially in advanced processes, the lack of equipment such as EUV lithography machines puts domestic companies at a disadvantage in international competition.
In addition to the technical and equipment challenges, the Chinese chip industry also faces pressure from international market competition.
As global competition in the chip industry intensifies, Chinese manufacturers must continuously improve their technological capabilities and product quality to establish themselves in the international market.
The chip industry faces many challenges, but it also has vast development space.
Governments, enterprises, and research institutions should collaborate closely, increase support for technology research and development and equipment introduction, and strive to enhance the competitiveness and influence of the chip industry, achieving leapfrog development in the industry.
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