The prophecy that the United States will lose the "chip war" is clearly being fulfilled. Facts have proved that the United States is a "pit", so TSMC and Samsung have appeared one after another, delaying production in the United States one after another, and Biden can no longer wait for the day when the "chip war" is won.
South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics recently delayed production plans at its chip factory in Texas, USA, and will not be able to achieve mass production until 2025 at the earliest.
Samsung Electronics' decision is a slap in the face for the Biden administration's chip policy.
Samsung's factory in Texas has become impossible to produce during Biden's tenure
Previously, Samsung Electronics had publicly promised that it would start production in 2024, but now Samsung Electronics suddenly announced a one-year postponement, which means that it will not be able to start production in an election year.
Coincidentally, before Samsung, TSMC also announced that it would postpone the production plan of its Arizona factory in the United States from 2024 to 2025.
The two chip giants have made similar decisions one after another, which is by no means accidental, and there must be deep reasons behind it. So, what exactly prompted TSMC and Samsung to postpone their production plans?
First of all, whether it is Samsung or TSMC, when they came to the United States to invest and build factories, they were rushing to the subsidies in the "Chips and Science Act" promulgated by the Biden administration. According to the bill, companies that build chip factories in the United States can share a $100 billion subsidy.
However, more than a year after the bill was enacted, the subsidies issued are pitifully small. At present, the Biden administration has not issued any subsidies to Samsung and TSMC, and the promised subsidies have been delayed. The credibility of the Biden administration has been damaged, and Samsung and TSMC naturally can't bear it.
Second, the Biden administration does not discriminate when it comes to issuing subsidies. The United States has already issued subsidies to the British Beiyi system, and plans to provide up to $4 billion in support to Intel, which shows that Biden does not want to subsidize Samsung and TSMC for any major reason, but simply does not want to subsidize them.
In this regard, Samsung Electronics is particularly dissatisfied, believing that even if it has invested heavily in the United States, it is still a low priority in the United States, which is very unfair.
This move by the United States will undoubtedly dampen the confidence of foreign chip manufacturers to build factories in the United States.
Biden's chip bill becomes a "chip lie"
In addition, the laws of the United States in terms of environmental review are extremely strict, according to the current law, chip factories have huge carbon emissions, which may harm the environment, so Samsung and TSMC factories must accept environmental review and assessment, and only after passing can the factory construction be carried out smoothly, and this process will take several years.
Not only that, but the Biden administration proposed to adjust the relevant environmental review bill in order to put Samsung and TSMC into production as soon as possible, but the House of Representatives has now adjourned, and it is not yet known when the relevant proposals will be processed, and even if it is put on the table, it will be difficult to reach an agreement at the congressional level.
It can be said that the current situation faced by Samsung and TSMC is that they came to the United States as guests, but found that the United States did not set up meals for entertainment, let alone tables and chairs, and they could only stand in place.
Finally, realistically, it can be costly to build a factory in the United States. Take building materials as an example, the United States requires factories to use materials from the United States, and the price of these materials is several times higher than the world market.
In addition, there are labor costs. Samsung and TSMC's U.S. factories must provide U.S. workers with high welfare packages and ample vacations, but this long-term investment will undoubtedly become a burden.
Especially for TSMC, which is Xi to the low cost of Taiwan, it is even more unbearable. You must know that the upfront cost of TSMC's U.S. factory is more than ten times more than that of the Taiwan factory.
Liu Deyin, chairman of TSMC, bluntly said that the slow progress of factories in the United States is not the reason for TSMC
What's more, the U.S. is sorely short of talent for chip manufacturing. Factories like TSMC and Samsung, which produce advanced chips, need high-quality personnel, but only 20,000 graduates in the United States graduate in related majors every year. Among the 20,000 people, many people will choose to go overseas, or choose to enter the factory of American brands, and the United States is far from meeting the employment needs of TSMC and Samsung.
TSMC and Samsung have been in trouble one after another, which has a great impact on the Biden administration. When Biden implemented the chip policy, he wanted to increase employment by attracting companies to build factories in the United States, and at the same time rebound local manufacturing capacity, so as to add a brilliant political achievement to himself, and have a good hand in the 2024 race for re-election.
But at present, it seems that Biden not only failed to achieve this goal, but also made a mess. Neither the chip plan nor the "chip war" can achieve any crucial breakthroughs in 2024, and the "US-led chip industry chain" has no hope of realizing it. It is fortunate that the White House's plan has not been porked.
What the Biden administration is now worried about is whether Samsung and TSMC's postponement of production is just the beginning, and whether it will continue to delay production in the future, or even withdraw from the United States.
It would be bad if these things happened in 2024.