Intel chief calls on Congress to support the company in the chip war

Gelsinger considers this an important step in enabling the United States to take control of its digital future

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is pressing the US government to help subsidize chip manufacturing, insisting that the current reliance on factories in Taiwan and Korea is a "geopolitically unstable" situation.

Despite bipartisan support for funding the domestic semiconductor industry, Congress has yet to deliver the money. The Senate has passed CHIPS, which includes $52 billion in semiconductor investment, but the House has yet to pass it.

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"If the world becomes dependent on a single chip manufacturing site, that will threaten political stability, right," Gelsinger told Axios on HBO.

While many companies in the United States design chips, including rivals Qualcomm, AMD and Nvidia, most companies rely on TSM ( Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) or the Korean "Samsung" to manufacture its chips.

This was not the case previously, as the United States accounted for more than a third of the semiconductor industry, but now only 12% of this industry is located in the United States due to cheap labor in other countries, as the cost of production was a major factor in this transformation.

"We can't be 30% or 40% more expensive than Asia," Gelsinger said, addressing Congress. "So, help us close that gap so we can build bigger and faster on American soil."

Gelsinger explained that Intel could afford the manufacturing effort without US government money, but said it could get bigger and faster with that funding.

"We're investing $20 billion in capital this year. So, we're going to spend our cash flow building labs and fabs - but we're also looking for and seeking subsidies from governments," Gelsinger continued.

Gelsinger considers this an important step in enabling the United States to take control of its digital future.

And even $52 billion is just a down payment for what Intel and the US will need over the next several years to catch up: "I think there will be a need to have Chips Act extensions to fully achieve that goal," he says.