Apple lobbying for chip production subsidies in the US

Apple is pushing for the United States government to provide subsidies for chip manufacturing in the country. The iPhone maker is part of a newly formed ‘Semiconductors in America Coalition’ which includes the likes of Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, and Amazon’s AWS. The members of the coalition have successfully created a new group for lobbying the government for subsidies.

The coalition has asked US lawmakers to provide proper subsidies for manufacturing chips in the United States. The President of US Joe Biden has asked Congress to provide $50 billion for the CHIPS for America Act. There is a growing need to locally source chips or at least decentralize chip making from China.

Growing need to decentralise chip production

The coronavirus pandemic has shown the world that there is a growing need to decentralize manufacturing of technology. At present, most of the electronic goods are manufactured in China. Due to factories being shut for a short period of duration last year, the whole of the tech industry has suffered from supply chain issues. 

“Robust funding of the CHIPS Act would help America build the additional capacity necessary to have more resilient supply chains to ensure critical technologies will be there when we need them,” the group, which Apple is part of, wrote in a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders in both the houses of the US Congress.

The global chip shortage is said to continue for another year or so, according to top analysts. The car maker Ford Motors has said that it may have to cut the production of its cars by half if need be. It may be no surprise to know that even cars are fitted with chips to run all the smart devices.

The automotive industry is reportedly putting pressure on the Biden administration to make necessary arrangements for proper supply of chips for cars.