WASHINGTON—April 3, 2019—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today released a set of government policy recommendations for sustaining and strengthening America’s global leadership in semiconductor technology and ensuring the United States wins the race to harness the transformative, semiconductor-enabled technologies of the future, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced wireless networks.
The report, titled Winning the Future: A Blueprint for Sustained U.S. Leadership in Semiconductor Technology, urges U.S. government leaders to significantly increase investments in semiconductor research, help attract and develop the world’s most skilled technology workforce, and ensure open markets and strong protection of intellectual property. SIA represents U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research.
The Winning the Future blueprint highlights two core challenges to continued semiconductor innovation and U.S. leadership in this sector. First, semiconductor technology advancements are pushing against barriers of physics, and breakthroughs to move beyond these limits and keep America in front require greater investment in research. Second, while the U.S. semiconductor industry leads the world with nearly half of global market share, overseas governments such as China’s are seeking to challenge U.S. leadership by making significant investments to achieve breakthroughs in semiconductor technology, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.
Workforce: The blueprintcalls for removing caps on green cards for qualified STEM graduates to meet short-term demand for talent. To develop the future American semiconductor workforce, the report urges increasing federal funding for STEM education by 50 percent over the next five years from more than $1 billion to over $1.5 billion annually and implementing a national STEM education initiative to double the number of American STEM graduates by 2029.