U.S. Likely to Demand Confidential Information of Semiconductor Companies

The White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce convened a meeting to discuss the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. The meeting is scheduled to be attended by Samsung Electronics, TSMC, Apple, Intel, Ford, GM, Microsoft, Daimler and BMW.

The meeting is likely to focus on the enhancement of transparency and trust between semiconductor manufacturers and their clients. There, the department is likely to tell the participants to submit their information within 45 days on inventory, order placement and sale. Most of the companies are reluctant to accept it and the department is going to force them to do so if it thinks necessary.

Disclosure of such confidential information can affect price negotiations between those manufacturers and clients and the prices of semiconductor chips. However, it is likely that at least some of the information will be revealed in the end. This is because the U.S. government is considering forcing them to do so using the Defense Production Act of 1950.

The law was enacted in 1950 in relation to the Korean War. According to the act, the president of the United States can tell a company to sign a supply contract regarding an essential article and designate items in order to prevent hoarding and price fixing. In addition, the president can order the establishment of a system for article, service or facility distribution and control the private economy so that essential articles can be used for national defense purposes.

According to industry insiders, U.S. semiconductor companies can take advantage of the disclosure. “Intel declared that it would re-enter the foundry market and the declaration would have been impossible without support from the U.S. government,” one of them commented, adding, “The possibility cannot be ruled out that Intel will get confidential information of Samsung Electronics and TSMC.”