Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger likened semiconductors to oil on Wednesday, suggesting that computer chips will play a central role in international affairs in the coming decades.
“Oil reserves have defined geopolitics for the past 50 years. [factories] “The digital future is more important,” Gelsinger said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Let’s build them where we want and define the world we want to join in the United States and Europe,” he said.
Fab is an abbreviation for manufacturing factory, which is a factory where semiconductors are manufactured. Currently, the majority of chips are manufactured in Asia, especially Taiwan. The concentration has raised natural security concerns, especially as China has expanded its military presence near the democratically dominated islands that Beijing claims to be.
During the Covid pandemic, there was also a shortage of semiconductors. This is due to the clash between the surge in demand for chips used in electronic devices, from smartphones to automobiles and washing machines, and the disruption of production.
Under the leadership of Gelsinger, Intel has been actively promoting chip manufacturing to geographically diversify. In recent months, Intel has announced a major investment in building new fabs in the United States and Europe. Intel also started working at two chip factories in Arizona last year.
US President Joe Biden speaks to Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger at an ongoing supply chain issue event at the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Building in Washington, DC on January 21, 2022. I shook it. Gelsinger announced that Intel Corp will invest the first $ 20 billion to develop a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in Ohio.
Chip Somode Villa | Getty Images
Based in Santa Clara, California, the company was an early influential company in Silicon Valley and upheld both Washington and Brussels officials with a law that included government funding to support semiconductor production. I am working on it.
Gelsinger’s comment on Wednesday preceded his testimony in the US Senate in support of a $ 52 billion subsidy program.
Geslinger, a former chief of cloud computing company VMWare, is not the first person to compare semiconductors to oil. However, his remarks have been prominent as crude oil prices soared this year, partly due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and fears of supply disruptions.
This is the latest example of geopolitical tensions leading to higher fuel prices, and thus concerns about the impact on US consumers. This has happened before, such as the energy crisis of the 1970s.
Geslinger expressed concern about the humanitarian consequences of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, as well as the economic consequences.
“The situation in Russia and Ukraine is not at the heart of the semiconductor supply chain, but it only enhances the geopolitical instability and urgency of building a geographically balanced supply chain (US, Europe, Asia). And the future of digital. “
“All digital runs on semiconductors. It is imperative to build these fabs where they are needed.”