It seems the United States is determined to make the United States the clear leader in the artificial intelligence industry. To achieve this, there are multiple segments where the country must lead. In line with this, Elon Musk said that if the US wants to win the AI race, it must control chip fabrication.
Currently, Taiwan dominates the chip manufacturing segment. The country is home to TSMC, the company whose plants account for around 65% of the global semiconductor production market. The US has set itself the difficult task of gradually changing this. To achieve this, authorities have adopted some key measures.
The US must lead chip fabrication to win the AI race, says Musk
Elon Musk asserts that it is important for the US to regain dominance in chip production because, if China invades Taiwan, the entire world could be cut off from access to the most advanced chip manufacturing plants. This will particularly impact the development of AI, since TSMC also manufactures these semiconductors. At the same time, in that hypothetical situation, Taiwan would also suffer US trade restrictions, which would slow its progress. The result would be a slowdown for the tech industry in general.
Therefore, for Elon Musk, the country that controls the chip fabrication will win the AI race. This makes sense, as the country that achieves this could even decide to whom to sell certain chips or technologies.
“For the next few years, I think America is likely to win. Then, it will be the one that controls AI chip manufacturing. If China controls it, then China will win,” he said on a podcast with Ted Cruz. “Right now, almost all the advanced AI chips are made in Taiwan, and if China were to invade Taiwan in the near future, the world would be cut off from advanced AI chips,” Musk added.
For some years now, the United States has taken steps to try to boost the local semiconductor industry. The Biden administration enacted the CHIPS Act, which involves a $65 billion fund to be distributed among companies that establish chip production plants in the country. This led companies like TSMC to produce chips in Arizona, for example.
Since the arrival of the Trump administration, the United States has adopted a more aggressive approach, leading more companies to become interested in establishing plants in the country to avoid potential taxes. TSMC itself announced a major investment of $165 billion in the US for seven factories and R&D offices.