Microsoft joins Google, Apple, and other tech giants to promote US semiconductor manufacturing

Microsoft joined Apple, Google, Amazon, and several other tech giants to form the Semiconductors in America Coalition (SIAC). The SIAC's goal is to promote semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. Specifically, the "SIAC's primary focus is to secure funding for the CHIPS for America Act," as explained in its post announcing its formation.

The SIAC has already taken its first step to promote semiconductor manufacturing by sending a letter to Congressional leadership. The letter supports President Biden's recent call for $50 billion in funding for semiconductor manufacturing incentives and research investments as part of the CHIPS for America Act.

The SIAC is made up of all members of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), as well as Amazon Web Services, Apple, AT&T, Cisco Systems, General Electric, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Microsoft, and Verizon. SIA's members include AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Samsung.

The U.S. only accounts for 12% of global manufacturing capacity, compared to 37% in 1990. The SIAC points to subsidies from other governments that it believes place the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage for attracting new facilities.

"It is 20-40% more expensive to build and operate a fab in the U.S. compared to overseas," explains the letter.

Generally speaking, industry funding isn't as partisan of an issue as many other things discussed in Congress, so there's a better chance of it getting approved than more controversial issues.