Accelerating Semiconductor Production: Semiconductors, which help power nearly every sector of our economy, are essential to both our national security and our economic competitiveness. However, the United States’ share of semiconductor manufacturing has significantly decreased overtime, forcing our economy to rely on foreign supply chains. Currently:

• United States semiconductor inventory levels are down to around five days;
• Demand is outpacing supply by 20%, and demand is going up;
• Median demand for chips was 17% higher in 2021 than in 2019;
• In 2021, about 1/3 of inflation came from cars—prices went up 22%, costing the United States 7.7 million cars because of chip shortages;
• U.S. chip assembly represents only 12% of the global production, down from 40% in the 1990s;
• In 2021, the chip shortage was forecasted to shave $210 billion in revenue from the auto industry; and
• In total, Taiwanese companies supply 63% of global semiconductors.

Education and Skills Training: To keep our country globally competitive, the America COMPETES Act of 2022 includes numerous bipartisan science, research, and technology bills to connect our nation’s students and workers with the necessary skills to succeed in the twenty-first century economy. As manufacturing capacity increases:

• 4 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed by 2030 – 2.1 million of those are expected to go unfilled if a lack of pathways and access remains, costing potentially $1 trillion in 2030.
• The U.S. lost over a quarter of manufacturing jobs since 2000 and production of critical inputs like semiconductors has increasingly moved overseas.
• The transformation of American manufacturing has reduced economic opportunity for working families, especially for workers without a college degree.

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