"No Experts" Semiconductor Shortage: America's Concern [Correspondent Diary]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Although the Joe Biden administration in the United States is making efforts to foster its domestic semiconductor industry, an analysis suggests that serious difficulties are expected in securing manpower.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The U.S. government is blatantly pressuring semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics to disclose inventory, contract relationships, and production plans, drawing up a blueprint for the revival of the domestic semiconductor industry. However, this implies that the plan could become a "house of cards" due to manpower shortages.

According to a recent survey released by the International Electronics Industry Standard Association (IPC), 80% of semiconductor companies complained about a lack of personnel to be deployed in production facilities. Half of the responding companies said they are facing serious difficulties in securing manpower.

To expand semiconductor manufacturing facilities, experienced personnel and experts are essential not only in design but also in production.

Since various chemicals are used in large quantities and cutting-edge fine processes are handled, experienced personnel are absolutely necessary.

Intel recently invested $20 billion to start construction of a new foundry plant in Arizona, but if sufficient skilled personnel are not secured, difficulties are expected in securing yield and other areas.

The United States has neglected investment in the semiconductor foundry sector, which requires large-scale investment, since the 1990s. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has also acknowledged that investment has been insufficient.

The report explained, "The situation is unlikely to change significantly in the next six months. Only 23% of companies believed that the manpower situation would improve."

The situation in the U.S. and Europe is more serious than in Asia, where Samsung Electronics and TSMC have led the semiconductor foundry sector.

About 33% of companies surveyed in the Asia region complained about manpower shortages, but 67% in North America and 63% in Europe expressed concerns about manpower shortages.

IPC also interpreted the unusually delayed deliveries by semiconductor companies in the U.S. and Europe compared to those in Asia as linked to manpower issues. While 42% of companies surveyed in Asia experienced delivery delays, 65% and 60% of companies in the U.S. and Europe, respectively, faced delivery delays.

In this situation, China is actually moving ahead. SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), China's largest foundry company, is aggressively expanding production facilities amid exploding demand.

Although SMIC is facing difficulties in securing equipment necessary for production due to sanctions imposed by the former Donald Trump administration, it is constructing new facilities in several locations.

SMIC's technological level is evaluated to be about 10 years behind Samsung Electronics and TSMC. The problem is that this 10-year gap benefits SMIC amid the current semiconductor supply chain bottleneck.

SMIC's technology is at the 14-nanometer level, which is sufficient for producing semiconductors for automobiles and electronic products.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.