Gina Raimondo: “Let’s get back to the business of building microchips in America”

Adam Zewe | MIT News Office
March 3, 2022

The global semiconductor shortage, a major driver of ballooning U.S. inflation, is as much a national security issue as an economic issue, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said during a recent visit to MIT.

Speaking at MIT.nano, a shared 214,000-square-foot research center for nanoscale science and engineering located in the heart of campus, Raimondo said that not long ago, the U.S. produced about 40 percent of the world’s semiconductors. Today, the nation makes only about 12 percent.

By producing more semiconductors domestically, the U.S. could drive down the costs of the countless consumer goods that contain chips, and limit its reliance on imported semiconductors, especially highly advanced chips for military equipment.