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Industrial policy: If China does it, why can't we?

Mar 1, 2021
China is generous to its favored companies, and that has, at times, threatened industries elsewhere in the world.
Targeted subsidies for specific industries have long been part of China's strategic development. Solar energy is just one of the areas where this strategy has been used.
AFP via Getty Images

How the U.S. could regain its competitive edge

Feb 24, 2021
President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday designed to make U.S. supply chains more resilient and secure.
The shortage of medical masks in 2020 was one sign that the U.S. needs to improve the security and resilience of its supply chains.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Why U.S. chipmakers want government help

Feb 16, 2021
The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association has asked President Biden for robust funding for manufacturing and research.
Roughly only 12% of semiconductor chips are made in the U.S., says C.J. Muse, research analyst with investment banking advisory firm Evercore ISI.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Extended downtime for GM plants doesn't mean workers are losing their jobs

Feb 10, 2021
The company says there's a semiconductor shortage, and it will reassess the situation in mid-March
Vehicles go through the assembly line at the General Motors Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant on Feb. 21, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Ford is latest automaker to cut production due to microchip shortage

Jan 11, 2021
When the pandemic first hit last spring, auto plants shut down and carmakers curbed semiconductor orders.
The Ford factory in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2017. The plant recently had to shut down due to a shortage of semiconductors.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

"Amateur" mistakes sink thieves of U.S. technology working for China

Dec 22, 2020
A case study of what not to do in the high-stakes world of economic espionage.
Chris Miller, a professor of history at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, says these controls are all about national security.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Chinese semiconductor firm to raise $2.8 billion as it seeks to catch world leaders

Jun 2, 2020
The firm wants to catch up with the leading-edge chips made by U.S., South Korean and Taiwanese companies.
Semiconductors on a circuit board that powers a video camera. Chinese firm SMIC is raising billions to upgrade its manufacturing technology.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

The chips (makers) are down: Semiconductors suffer on trade tensions

Jun 14, 2019
The industry hoped things would pick up this year. The industry was wrong.
Semiconductors are pictured on a circuit board used in a Samsung video camera in San Jose, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Qualcomm ruling raises concern over U.S. competitiveness in 5G race

May 23, 2019
The company's loss in federal court could require it to overhaul its business model, depriving the U.S. industry-leading semiconductor maker of next-generation R&D funds.
People visit the Qualcomm stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 27.
PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images

Apple's secret weapon? The semiconductor

Sep 12, 2018
Apple unveils a new iPhone. What really makes it special? The computer chips inside.
An attendee looks at a new iPhone X during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on the Apple Park campus on September 12, 2017 in Cupertino, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images