Why the Chips Act Signals a Return to ‘Industrial Policy’ | WSJ

00:08:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8xwEB_co2o

Zusammenfassung

TLDRThe video delves into how governmental investments have historically fueled technological advancements, citing examples like closed captioning, GPS, and MRI machines. Recently, President Biden signed the Chips Act into law, directing billions towards boosting domestic semiconductor production amidst rising global competition, especially from China. This action has sparked debate over industrial policy—a governmental approach to influence industry through tariffs, tax incentives, or direct investments. The video outlines historical instances such as WWII and the Cold War where U.S. investments in defense and space research led to breakthroughs. Proponents argue that policies like the Chips Act are crucial for maintaining national technological security, while critics warn against government picking market winners, citing investment failures like Solyndra as cautionary tales. Currently, despite the U.S. leading in chip design, much of the manufacturing has shifted to Asia, prompting strategic moves to regain industry control.

Mitbringsel

  • 📈 Government investments historically drove tech innovation.
  • 💰 The Chips Act aims to revitalize US semiconductor production.
  • ⚙️ Industrial policy involves tariffs and incentives to shape industries.
  • 🔬 The Cold War sparked massive US R&D funding.
  • 🇨🇳 China's tech rise prompts US competition.
  • 💡 Government's role in R&D has controversial but impactful past.
  • 🌍 The global chip supply chain is shifting, raising security concerns.
  • 💥 Industrial policy debates include market vs. government control.
  • 🏭 Maintaining domestic fabs is crucial for national security.
  • 🧐 Criticisms exist about industrial policies' successes and failures.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:08:30

    The narrator begins describing a morning routine involving products and technologies made possible by government investments, highlighting the role of government in advancing technologies like milk processing, television, GPS, and MRI machines. There is a shift in government focus towards investing in microchip manufacturing, underscoring the importance of government involvement in industries for domestic production, illustrated by the US government's recent initiative with the Chips Act. This shift is likened to historical industrial policies supported by tariffs and incentives to promote domestic products, such as Alexander Hamilton's strategy in 1790 and further developments like the HEPA filter during the Manhattan Project. The US's post-WWII investment in technological advancement outpaced even other nations' combined efforts due to motivations like the Cold War and the Space Race, which also indirectly drove industrial policy through defense, space, or health-related projects.

Mind Map

Mind Map

Häufig gestellte Fragen

  • What technologies have been influenced by government investment?

    Technologies like closed captioning, GPS, MRI machines, microchips, and semiconductors have been influenced by government investment.

  • What is the Chips Act?

    The Chips Act is a legislation signed to boost domestic semiconductor production in the USA by providing billions in direct investment and tax incentives.

  • What is industrial policy?

    Industrial policy refers to government strategies aiming to affect industry outcomes through tariffs, tax incentives, or direct investments.

  • Why is the US government investing in semiconductor production?

    The US government is investing to enhance national security, reduce reliance on foreign chip manufacturing, and keep up with competitors like China.

  • How did WWII impact technology development?

    WWII led to significant government investment in radio technology, shipbuilding, and jet engines, facilitating technological advancements.

  • What role did the Cold War play in US technology?

    The Cold War drove extensive government funding in R&D, outspending all foreign and private investments, impacting many technological advancements.

  • Why do critics oppose industrial policy?

    Critics argue it may pick winners and losers in the market, pointing to past failures like Solyndra and Foxconn's unbuilt factory as examples.

  • How does the US chip market compare globally?

    The US still leads in chip design but has seen chip fabrication migrate largely to Asia, reducing its global share from 37% to 12%.

  • What is a Fab in semiconductor manufacturing?

    A Fab is a semiconductor fabrication plant where chips are manufactured.

  • What are some benefits of government-led R&D?

    Government-led R&D has historically led to advances in technology sectors and unexpected applications, like the development of HEPA filters and Tang.

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Untertitel
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Automatisches Blättern:
  • 00:00:00
    (cheerful music)
  • 00:00:01
    - [Narrator] This is just a typical morning.
  • 00:00:03
    I'm eating some cereal with lactose-free milk
  • 00:00:05
    as I watched some videos on the internet
  • 00:00:07
    using closed captioning,
  • 00:00:09
    while looking up directions to my MRI appointment.
  • 00:00:12
    Okay, maybe not really typical
  • 00:00:14
    but just about everything here,
  • 00:00:16
    the milk, the TV, the graphics cards, the internet,
  • 00:00:18
    the closed captioning, the GPS, the MRI machine
  • 00:00:21
    were made possible because of government investments.
  • 00:00:25
    - It's probably the case that every technology used today,
  • 00:00:27
    at some point there was like government funding involved.
  • 00:00:29
    - [Narrator] And the latest technology
  • 00:00:31
    that the US government is getting involved in
  • 00:00:33
    is manufacturing microchips.
  • 00:00:35
    - Folks, we need to make these chips here in America.
  • 00:00:39
    - It's law.
  • 00:00:39
    - President Biden just signed a bill into law today
  • 00:00:41
    boosting domestic semiconductor production.
  • 00:00:44
    - There are some big companies
  • 00:00:45
    that are set to benefit.
  • 00:00:46
    - If it's a good idea to make the semiconductors here,
  • 00:00:48
    why do we need the government to help us?
  • 00:00:50
    - [Narrator] Here's why the US government
  • 00:00:51
    is giving private companies billions of dollars
  • 00:00:54
    and why many economists are calling the Chips Act
  • 00:00:57
    a return to industrial policy.
  • 00:01:01
    - Industrial policy is actually quite a simple term.
  • 00:01:03
    It's a set of policies that try to affect the outcome
  • 00:01:08
    of some particular industry or industries.
  • 00:01:12
    - [Narrator] Industrial policy
  • 00:01:13
    can be done through things like tariffs
  • 00:01:14
    that make US made products cheaper than foreign ones,
  • 00:01:17
    or through tax incentives like getting money back
  • 00:01:20
    if you put solar panels on your house,
  • 00:01:22
    or what has been less popular in recent years,
  • 00:01:24
    direct investments.
  • 00:01:26
    Let's go back, way back to Alexander Hamilton.
  • 00:01:30
    In 1790, Hamilton proposed tariffs on imported goods
  • 00:01:33
    in order to encourage his fellow countrymen
  • 00:01:35
    to buy more American products.
  • 00:01:38
    - [Speaker] This is the immense plant which gave birth
  • 00:01:40
    to the atomic bomb and brought the world to a new crossroad.
  • 00:01:43
    - [Narrator] Fast forward to the 20th Century,
  • 00:01:45
    to prevent the spread of radioactive contaminants
  • 00:01:48
    used during the Manhattan Project,
  • 00:01:50
    the US government funded the development of the HEPA filter
  • 00:01:53
    which is used in many air purifiers sold today.
  • 00:01:57
    World War II also required enormous investment
  • 00:02:00
    in radio technology, ship building and jet engines.
  • 00:02:04
    - The defense department was largely
  • 00:02:06
    the main buyer of many of these technologies.
  • 00:02:09
    The commercial market was quite small,
  • 00:02:11
    the defense market was quite big.
  • 00:02:13
    And so they could really drive
  • 00:02:15
    a lot of the movement in industry.
  • 00:02:17
    - [Narrator] In the 1960s,
  • 00:02:18
    the US government spent more money
  • 00:02:20
    on research and development than all other governments,
  • 00:02:22
    all foreign private companies
  • 00:02:24
    and all US private companies combined.
  • 00:02:27
    Why?
  • 00:02:28
    The Cold War and the Space Race?
  • 00:02:31
    - What did the space program give us?
  • 00:02:33
    It gave us Tang
  • 00:02:34
    - [Speaker] From Gemini to the Shuttle to Earth families,
  • 00:02:37
    - [Both] Bye, mom.
  • 00:02:37
    - [Speaker] Great mornings have taken off with Tang.
  • 00:02:40
    - Yeah, it gave us Tang,
  • 00:02:41
    but it also gave a gazillion other things.
  • 00:02:44
    It wasn't talked about as industrial policy.
  • 00:02:46
    It was talked about as space policy
  • 00:02:48
    or defense policy or health policy,
  • 00:02:50
    but it was a defacto industrial policy.
  • 00:02:53
    - [Speaker] And liftoff.
  • 00:02:54
    - [Narrator] A defacto industrial policy
  • 00:02:56
    with many unforeseen benefits.
  • 00:02:58
    This robotic prosthetic leg
  • 00:03:00
    is powered by small, powerful motors,
  • 00:03:02
    originally designed for a robotic arm
  • 00:03:05
    on the International Space Station.
  • 00:03:08
    Like many of these technologies, semiconductors originated
  • 00:03:11
    from research and development programs
  • 00:03:13
    funded by the US taxpayer.
  • 00:03:15
    - The birth of semiconductors in the United States
  • 00:03:17
    had a lot to do with the fact that the Department of Defense
  • 00:03:19
    and the space program were the first
  • 00:03:21
    big early customers for semiconductors.
  • 00:03:24
    - [Narrator] Since 2006, China has prioritized
  • 00:03:27
    catching up to the west technologically.
  • 00:03:29
    But doing that requires semiconductors.
  • 00:03:32
    - China has ramped up its investment in Chips.
  • 00:03:34
    - [Narrator] Senator Mark Warner, who is the chairman
  • 00:03:36
    of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
  • 00:03:38
    has long been warning
  • 00:03:39
    about the growing threat posed by China.
  • 00:03:41
    - China has been able to throw literally, you know,
  • 00:03:44
    two, three, four times as much money at trying to build up
  • 00:03:47
    their semiconductor chip capacity as the United States.
  • 00:03:51
    - [Narrator] This is where the Chips Act comes in.
  • 00:03:53
    The legislation offers $53 billion in direct investment
  • 00:03:57
    plus a separate tax incentive program
  • 00:03:59
    to reinvigorate the US chip industry.
  • 00:04:01
    - So, what the Chips bill did was say,
  • 00:04:03
    we're gonna take 52 billion,
  • 00:04:05
    but we're going to take about 40 billion of that
  • 00:04:07
    and try to get the semiconductor factories
  • 00:04:10
    that are called Fabs,
  • 00:04:12
    get the Fabs to locate here in America
  • 00:04:15
    - [Narrator] Today, the US still dominates
  • 00:04:17
    the most lucrative links in the semiconductor supply chain
  • 00:04:20
    including the design of chips.
  • 00:04:21
    But the fabrication of chips
  • 00:04:23
    has increasingly moved to China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
  • 00:04:27
    - Over the last 20 years,
  • 00:04:29
    a lot of that industry has migrated to East Asia
  • 00:04:31
    where land and labor are cheaper
  • 00:04:33
    and there are a lot of subsidies available
  • 00:04:35
    - [Narrator] Because of this,
  • 00:04:36
    the US share of global chip making
  • 00:04:37
    has shrunk from 37% in 1990 to 12% in 2020.
  • 00:04:42
    China went from zero to about 15% in the same time.
  • 00:04:46
    - If we don't do this, I don't think there'll be another
  • 00:04:50
    chip manufacturing facility built in America.
  • 00:04:53
    - Senator Warner sees this as a national security issue.
  • 00:04:56
    - Over the last particularly 15 or 20 years,
  • 00:04:59
    what we've seen is that national security
  • 00:05:02
    is no longer who has the most military hardware
  • 00:05:04
    but also who controls what technology domains.
  • 00:05:08
    - [Narrator] The US now buys more than 90%
  • 00:05:10
    of its advanced chips from Taiwan,
  • 00:05:12
    an island China sees as its territory.
  • 00:05:15
    Any conflict in Taiwan
  • 00:05:16
    could dramatically disrupt global chip supplies.
  • 00:05:19
    - We all saw what happened during the pandemic
  • 00:05:21
    when chip factories shut down overseas.
  • 00:05:24
    We can never let that happen again.
  • 00:05:26
    - We have never before been
  • 00:05:27
    in this kind of a Cold War type conflict
  • 00:05:31
    with a power that was also a worthy economic peer.
  • 00:05:35
    And I think it is awakened, in the United States,
  • 00:05:37
    an awareness that we cannot simply allow
  • 00:05:40
    the private market to allow vital technologies
  • 00:05:43
    and capabilities to entirely migrate to a country
  • 00:05:46
    that we are in an adversarial situation with.
  • 00:05:49
    - So our competitors are pouring
  • 00:05:51
    tens of billion dollars into boosting their own supply
  • 00:05:54
    of these essential semiconductors,
  • 00:05:56
    and the United States needs to keep up and to compete.
  • 00:06:01
    The vast majority of our colleagues
  • 00:06:03
    agree that this was an important and critical task.
  • 00:06:07
    - [Narrator] When was passed,
  • 00:06:08
    the Chips Act received rare bipartisan support.
  • 00:06:11
    The yays are 64, the nays are 33.
  • 00:06:14
    - There is broad bipartisan agreement
  • 00:06:16
    that China is the challenge of our time,
  • 00:06:19
    and that in these areas of technology
  • 00:06:22
    we can't allow America to fall behind.
  • 00:06:26
    - [Narrator] Critics of industrial policy
  • 00:06:28
    accuse it of picking winners
  • 00:06:29
    rather than letting the free market determine
  • 00:06:31
    which companies succeed.
  • 00:06:33
    Some of the most famous industrial policy failures
  • 00:06:35
    include investment targeted at a single company.
  • 00:06:39
    At former President Donald Trump's urging,
  • 00:06:41
    in 2017, Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group promised to build
  • 00:06:45
    a flat panel display factory in Wisconsin.
  • 00:06:48
    - This is a great day for American workers
  • 00:06:50
    and for everyone who believes
  • 00:06:53
    in the concept and the label, Made in the USA.
  • 00:06:58
    - But five years later, and that factory remains unbuilt.
  • 00:07:01
    Critics of industrial policy also point to Solyndra
  • 00:07:04
    - When it's completed in a few months,
  • 00:07:06
    Solyndra expects to hire 1,000 workers
  • 00:07:08
    to manufacture solar panels
  • 00:07:10
    and sell them across America and around the world.
  • 00:07:13
    (audience applauding)
  • 00:07:14
    - [Narrator] But in 2011,
  • 00:07:15
    the solar manufacturer went bankrupt
  • 00:07:17
    after it defaulted on $535 million in federal loans.
  • 00:07:23
    But proponents of the Chips Act say,
  • 00:07:25
    it's not about picking specific firms
  • 00:07:27
    like Intel or Taiwan Semiconductor
  • 00:07:29
    - Good industrial policy funds a variety of firms,
  • 00:07:33
    big, small, even foreign,
  • 00:07:35
    long as they're doing the work in the US
  • 00:07:37
    and they're not our adversaries.
  • 00:07:40
    - [Narrator] The ability to apply for this money
  • 00:07:42
    is drawing major investment from these firms right now.
  • 00:07:45
    Both Intel and TSMC are spending billions
  • 00:07:48
    to build new Fabs in the US.
  • 00:07:50
    - I think one thing we're gonna learn
  • 00:07:51
    is that industrial policy is expensive
  • 00:07:54
    and we have large government deficits.
  • 00:07:56
    And so, I think one of the things that will put the breaks
  • 00:07:59
    on the Rush to industrial policy is the fact that
  • 00:08:01
    you'll have to persuade, you know,
  • 00:08:03
    Congress to vote for this money and that's not easy to do.
  • 00:08:06
    The Republican senators, for example,
  • 00:08:08
    who gave their support to the Chips Act,
  • 00:08:10
    they did so because they saw this
  • 00:08:12
    as a narrow exception to their general mistrust
  • 00:08:14
    of the government being able to spend money
  • 00:08:16
    better than the free market.
  • 00:08:18
    And I think that there will not be
  • 00:08:19
    many other industries that meet that test.
  • 00:08:21
    (cheerful music)
Tags
  • Chips Act
  • Government investment
  • Industrial policy
  • Technology
  • Semiconductors
  • US economy
  • China competition
  • National security
  • Research and Development