Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has highlighted the advancements the United States has made in semiconductor manufacturing, and said she believes American and Taiwanese manufacturers have now “out-innovated” China.
Ms. Raimondo, who previously served as the Democratic governor of Rhode Island, has been spearheading efforts to advance the technology—a strategic measure repeatedly pushed by the Biden administration, which has invested billions of dollars in the CHIPS Act to fund Department of Defense work into microelectronics research, fabrication, and training, as well efforts to secure microchip supply chains.
Speaking to CBS on April 21, Ms. Raimondo outlined the importance that technological advances are playing in the ongoing battle with China over trade and commerce.
“If you think about national security today in 2024, it’s not just tanks and missiles; it’s technology. It’s semiconductors. It’s AI. It’s drones. And the Commerce Department is at the red-hot center of technology,” Ms. Raimondo said in a “60 minutes” interview with Lesley Stahl.
The Commerce Secretary also noted that bringing the manufacture of semiconductors home to the United States has been a major victory for the nation, having cautioned against relying on China due to matters of national security—in addition to putting American industries at risk.
Trade restrictions against China were further tightened last year, after Ms. Raimondo’s email was hacked by CCP-linked hackers around the same time that she was on a visit to the country. E-mail accounts of other U.S. politicians were also compromised at that time.
“We want to trade with China on the vast majority of goods and services. But on those technologies that affect our national security, no,” she said in the “60 Minutes” interview.
Speaking about the potential use of advanced microchips in Chinese products, Ms. Raimondo said that “they also go into nuclear weapons, surveillance systems. And we know they want these chips and our sophisticated technology to advance their military.”
Ms. Raimondo pointed out that the best semiconductors being manufactured by industry giant Huawei in China currently lag far behind what its American counterparts have achieved.
“What it tells me is the export controls are working because that chip is not nearly as good. It’s years behind what we have in the United States,” Ms. Raimondo said, adding that “We have the most sophisticated semiconductors in the world. China doesn’t. We’ve out-innovated China.”
Ms. Raimondo also alluded to the large proportion—some 90 percent—of the U.S. supply of semiconductors coming out of Taiwan. She acknowledged the strategic risk this poses to the United States and its manufacturing base, given the Chinese communist regime’s repeated threats of taking over Taiwan, and by force if necessary.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has announced further investment in semiconductor manufacturing plants across the country, including in Arizona, Texas, New York, and other locations.
According to Ms. Raimondo, this could stimulate the job market by creating as many as 500,000 jobs by 2030.
“We allowed manufacturing in this country to wither on the vine in search of cheaper labor in Asia, cheaper capital in Asia, and here we are,” she said. “We just pursued profit over national security.”
Several billion dollars in funding has been allocated for chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung Electronics, and Micron Technology to increase their production capacity across existing and new facilities in the United States.
