By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Beefing up semiconductor production capacity alone won’t solve the supply chain crisis afflicting automotive OEMs and EV startups. The players must look at their internal processes and program management — or lack thereof — for answers.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the automotive industry has been one of the segments hit hardest and longest by the global semiconductor shortage.

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?
In his first year as Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger refocused the enterprise and swapped out the senior management team in a bid to restore the company to dominance. Now the world is watching to see whether Gelsinger’s handpicked managers and aggressive restructuring will succeed in equipping Intel to navigate a landscape that is shifting rapidly under its feet. Settle in, because it will be years before Gelsinger’s rapidly executed changes achieve their full impact.

Intel Corp. CEO Patrick Gelsinger, who rejoined the company in February 2021, is on a mission to secure the venerable microprocessor manufacturer’s future by knocking it down to its founding principles and rebuilding pretty much everything from there.

By George Leopold

What’s at stake?
As the economic sanctions imposed by the West seek to cut off the Kremlin from funding to wage its war, there are signs that the unprecedented Western­ and East Asian cooperation on technology export controls is depriving Russian forces of tools to fight it. But those measures are most effective as long-game strategies, and Ukraine doesn’t have that kind of time.

Current and former U.S. officials overseeing Western efforts to cut off Russia’s access to dual-use technologies say those efforts are beginning to bear fruit as Moscow struggles to refit its battered military.

By Adele Hars

What’s at stake?
Europe asked its “Big Three” research organizations – Leti, IMEC and Fraunhofer – to come up with recommendations for an R&D road map for the European Chips Act, a plan to bolster the continent’s shrunken chip industry. The trio’s proposal includes moving FD-SOI technology to the 10nm node for the heterogenous systems their industrial partners in automotive, IoT, health care and sustainability require. Will the EC approve this daring plan? We’ll find out this summer.

After almost two decades working his way through the ranks of Leti, Sebastian Dauvé was named CEO of the Grenoble, France-based technology research institute in July 2021. He had just a few weeks to settle into his new job when Brussels came calling with a big ask: Team up with IMEC and Fraunhofer to make recommendations for an R&D road map that would enable Europe to attain greater digital sovereignty and grow its share of the world chip market from 10 percent to 20 percent by 2030.

By George Leopold

What’s at stake?
China’s Communist Party launched a wealth-redistribution campaign last year, cracking down on overseas security listings ostensibly in the name of data security. It hasn’t worked, and Chinese financial regulators appear to be in tactical retreat.

President Xi Jinping effectively erased more than one-third of Chinese technology companies’ market capitalization after launching a crackdown on U.S. stock market listings, according to a U.S. economic security assessment.

By George Leopold

What’s at stake?
Push comes to shove later this month when House and Senate conferees roll up their sleeves to reconcile sharp differences in proposed legislation aimed at reviving U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. Among other decisions will be allocating $52 billion in federal subsidies in ways that address supply chain concerns while advancing technology innovation.

The direction of U.S. investments in semiconductor technology and revived manufacturing will be determined in coming weeks as congressional conferees hammer out a compromise needed to overcome conflicting visions for boosting American competitiveness.

By George Leopold

What’s at stake?
Infrastructure and Jobs Act Funds are beginning to flow in a rebuild of key logistics and distribution components of the sclerotic U.S. supply chain. The challenge is quickly dispersing funds where they are needed to help unsnarl the American ports and freight railways that are the lifeblood of the nation’s logistics network.

The Infrastructure and Jobs Act, signed into law last November, includes $1.2 trillion for rebuilding bridges, roads and rails, along with modernizing port and other facilities. Of that total, $17 billion is earmarked for port infrastructure and waterways.