September 28, 2023
The Case for an Alliance of Semiconductor Producing Nations
Coordinating with allies and partners is a critical pillar of the United States’ semiconductor strategy. To date, the United States has engaged with allies and partners through a constellation of bilateral and plurilateral coalitions, including Chip 4, the Quad, the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council, among others. While a piecemeal approach works for some technologies, this approach does not work for technologies with a global supply chain, such as semiconductors. The United States needs to reboot its strategy and form an alliance of semiconductor-producing nations to foster geographic diversification of the necessary supply chains.
Revising the United States’ current approach is imperative given the global nature of the semiconductor supply chain.
The United States’ current two-pronged approach suffers from the Goldilocks problem. On one hand, the existing bilateral and plurilateral coalitions have too few countries in the room and lack visibility into segments of the value chain and the activities of key semiconductor producing nations. On the other hand, current multilateral dialogues have too many countries with a seat at the table. Broad-based initiatives – such as through the OSCE and WTO – make consensus impossible, as different stakeholders have different goals. The United States needs to strike a balance and find the middle ground in its approach, and an alliance of semiconductor-producing nations would do just that.
Read the full article from The Diplomat.
More from CNAS
-
Germany's New Defense Agenda
Podcast
On April 9th, Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, secured a coalition agreement with the Social Democrats following his party’s vi...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Trump ‘Humiliated’ as Putin Sends Clear Message That He Doesn’t Care About US
Video
"Putin is not playing ball." Putin's Palm Sunday attack on Sumy is "embarrassing for the White House" as it comes just days after Steve Witkoff met with the Kremlin, says adju...
By Jim Townsend
-
The Hidden Past and Uncertain Future of the U.S. and Ukraine with Celeste Wallander
Podcast
Under the Trump administration, U.S. support for Ukraine is no longer guaranteed. President Trump's pause on aid and intelligence to Ukraine in March may have been brief, but ...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend & Celeste Wallander
-
Is Russia Under Pressure?
Video
Since 2014, the United States and its allies have provided increasing military support to Ukraine while imposing more and tougher economic sanctions on Russia, especially sinc...
By Jeffrey Edmonds
