As part of its 2021 promise to invest $430 billion in the U.S. economy over five years, Apple announced a multibillion dollar agreement with American chipmaker Broadcom to employ chips made in the country. The action is being taken as the United States works to lessen its reliance on foreign chip producers.
Broadcom and Apple will work together to develop 5G radio frequency and wireless connectivity components as part of the multi-year agreement. Apple claims that the technology would be created in sites all around the nation, including one in Fort Collins, Colorado, home to Broadcom’s largest facility.
The revelation comes as the U.S. is working to lessen American companies’ reliance on foreign chipmakers by focusing on local semiconductor production. One of the largest federal investments in a private sector was made last summer when President Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which includes more than $170 billion over five years to support American scientific research and $52 billion in subsidies for domestic chip manufacturers.
Many U.S. authorities considered the fact that China and Taiwan produce the great majority of modern semiconductors to be a national security risk. A semiconductor scarcity brought on by pandemic-related supply chain shocks also highlighted the world’s reliance on a small number of major manufacturers for chips, which are crucial to the electronics and automobile industries, in particular.
Not just the United States is attempting to lessen its reliance on Asian chip manufacturers. The European Union’s member states passed their own Chips Act, worth $46 billion, to increase semiconductor manufacture within the union, and the United Kingdom just launched its own semiconductor strategy, worth $1.25 billion.
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