Resilient supply chains are fundamental to our national security and economic prosperity. The pandemic-induced collapse of global supply chains has launched a national movement to strengthen domestic manufacturing.
SHANGHAI—China’s biggest microchip producer, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., and Apple Inc. supplier Pegatron
Corp. continue to operate factories here during the city’s most-recent COVID-19 lockdown by isolating workers and running a closed-off procedure allowed by local authorities.
In January, Intel announced that it will invest $20 billion in a new microchip manufacturing facility near Columbus, OH. The fab is expected to create 3,000 company jobs, 7,000 construction jobs, and tens of thousands of additional jobs for suppliers and partners.
The chaos in supply chains has manufacturers clamoring for storage space to keep contingency inventory—in other words, the reverse of JIT. The new mania is for “just-in-case” inventories. Welcome to the 1970s.
BEIJING—Samsung and other NAND Flash memory chip manufacturers have begun quoting memory chip prices again, after Chinese authorities ended a pandemic lockdown of the city Xi’an earlier this month.
TAIWAN—An escalated or prolonged conflict between Russia and Ukraine could negatively impact Ukraine's long-term ability to supply the raw material gases neon, argon, krypton and xenon needed for semiconductor production, according to researchers at TrendForce.
SANTA CLARA, CA—Intel Corp. and Tower Semiconductor, a leading foundry for analog semiconductors, have announced an agreement under which Intel will acquire Tower for approximately $5.4 billion.
Above all else, electronic products for aerospace and defense equipment must be durable and reliable. Based in Gloucestershire, England, Ultra Electronics Precision Control Systems (UPCS) has been making such products for both industries since 1925.
Gentherm Inc. has been assembling a wide range of thermal management products for the automotive industry since 1991, when it was known as Amerigon. In 1996, the company created the industry's first thermoelectrically heated and cooled seat system (called Climate Control Seat).