GlobalFoundries moved its corporate headquarters to its “Fab 8" campus in Malta, New York, just south of Saratoga Springs, but will keep a “substantial presence” in Santa Clara, California, where many U.S. customers and "ecosystem partners are based,” said the chipmaker Monday. The move, effective immediately, will enable the company to recruit new talent as it doubles investments to expand global capacity, with $500 million earmarked for Malta alone, it said. Semiconductors “are more pervasive than ever, becoming one of humankind's most vital resources,” it said.

Bluetooth Low Energy specialist Nordic Semiconductor reported a 104% year-on-year quarterly revenue increase to $143.2 million, including Bluetooth revenue that surpassed $100 million for the first time, said CEO Svenn-Tore Larsen on its webinar Tuesday (see other Q1 materials here). But shortages in available wafers “sort of constrained the growth,” despite “very good support from our vendors” including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., he said. “When I speak to TSMC, I'm very pleased to see their eagerness to correct the situation and their plans of CapEx spending over the next years to ensure capacity growth for all nodes,” said Larsen. “This is a matter of a temporary situation where we have to work and laser-focus together with our customers to create, as I said, minimum impact for them and come back much stronger when capacity eases.” TSMC outlined plans last week to invest $100 billion the next three years to boost wafer capacity, including $30 billion in 2021 (see 2104160038).

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, led a bipartisan letter with 70 other lawmakers Tuesday urging President Joe Biden to “prioritize securing funding” in his FY 2022 budget request “to implement” the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act, which was enacted as part of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2101030002). The Chips language authorizes federal incentives to promote semiconductor manufacturing and public-sector investments in semiconductor R&D (see 2012170061). “We would specifically request you consider joining us in support of funding levels that are at least the authorized amounts proposed in the original bill as you work with Congress on a package of policies to better compete with China and how best to strengthen our country’s economic competitiveness and resiliency as well as national security,” the senators and House members said. The original measure proposed $10 billion to match state and local incentives to encourage semiconductor manufacturing and $3 billion for a Commerce Department grant program. Senators signing the letter also included Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.; and Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Global semiconductor revenue grew 10.4% in 2020 to $466.2 billion, reported Gartner Monday. “Memory, GPUs and 5G chipsets led semiconductor growth, driven by hyperscale, PC, ultramobile and 5G handset end-market demand,” said analyst Andrew Norwood. “Automotive and industrial electronics suffered due to lower spending or a pause in spending owing to COVID-19.” Intel remained the world’s top semiconductor vendor by revenue with a 15.6% share; Samsung had 12.4% and SK hynix was a distant third at 5.5%, said Gartner.

Semiconductors are more “strategically important to the global economy than at any time in history, and this is driving new waves of silicon consumption,” Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson told his company's virtual investor meeting Tuesday. His prepared remarks noted factors driving unprecedented semiconductor demand without mentioning the resulting industry chip shortages. “As an industry, we’re in a privileged position where our combined technologies can drive a huge positive impact on a global scale,” said Dickerson. “As the world navigates COVID-19 and prepares for a post-pandemic era, the digital transformation of the economy is accelerating.” Digital transformation is “built upon semiconductor innovation, and has significant implications for the electronics ecosystem,” he said. “As everything gets smarter, from our phones to our cars to our homes, we’re seeing increasing silicon content.” The transition to 5G “is driving a richer mix of high-end phones that feature more cameras and sensors, combined with specialized AI computing,” he said. “All this adds up to more leading-edge and specialty silicon content per handset.”

Revitalizing U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and R&D could “drive innovation across many different sectors for decades,” the Information Technology Industry Council told the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Comments due Monday in docket BIS-2021-0011 will help shape recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve bottlenecks (see 2103110054). For the U.S. semiconductor industry to remain competitive and to strengthen the resilience of critical semiconductor supply chains, the administration “should prioritize incentivizing research, development, prototyping, and manufacturing of advanced semiconductors” domestically, said ITI. “Federal investment and incentives to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing will level the capital expenditure playing field ... enabling firms to build new or expand existing manufacturing capacity in the U.S versus other locations where governments heavily subsidize semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure.” Promoting such financial incentives is “the single most important action” the U.S. can take “to strengthen these critical supply chains,” said ITI. “Augmenting domestic production of semiconductors, coupled with ensuring the continuity of necessary global supply chains, would make America’s semiconductor supply chains more resilient to future crises and ensure the U.S. can supply the advanced chips needed.”

February semiconductor revenue increased 14.7% year on year, reaching $36.9 billion globally, but was down 1% from January sales of $40 billion, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. “Global semiconductor sales during the first two months of the year have outpaced sales from early in 2020, when the pandemic began to spread in parts of the world,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. “Sales into the China market saw the largest year-to-year growth, largely because sales there were down substantially early last year.”

The U.S. and Japan plan to set up a working group on securing supply chains for strategic technologies, including semiconductors, reported Nikkei Asia Thursday. The countries will likely agree to terms on the project -- including R&D cooperation and production of strategic technology components -- when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Joe Biden meet in Washington later this month, the report said. The White House didn’t respond to questions Friday. Comments are due Monday at the Bureau of Industry and Security to help shape Commerce Department policy recommendations to the White House on Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve bottlenecks in the semiconductor supply chain (see 2103110054).

CTA agrees with “elements” of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, including its efforts to update U.S. broadband (see 2103310064), “which we need now more than ever,” said CEO Gary Shapiro Thursday. “Rebuilding our infrastructure will better position the U.S. to compete with our biggest innovation rivals including China,” he said. “Extending apprenticeships -- critical to creating more pathways into tech and advancing diversity -- will strengthen the American workforce.” But CTA has “concerns” about the proposal’s plan to pay for infrastructure reforms by raising the corporate tax rate, said Shapiro.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security plans a virtual forum April 8 at 2 p.m. EDT to collect input on how the Biden administration can help boost the competitiveness and capacity of the U.S. semiconductor industry, says Tuesday’s Federal Register. Comments are due April 5 on the BIS notice of inquiry on semiconductor competitiveness (see 2103110054). The comments and feedback from the forum will help shape Commerce’s policy recommendations to the White House on President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24 executive order to relieve bottlenecks in the chip supply chain. Registration for the virtual forum closes Thursday.