This AI Ecosystem Report, featuring PriceSmartCIO and Acceleration Economy analyst Wayne Sadin, explores a major US government funding initiative — $8.5 billion for Intel — to fuel chip factories and development in the United States.
Highlights
01:43 — Wayne’s initial take: It’s scary to see that U.S. manufacturing in the critical economic sector of computer chips has declined so much (to 12% of worldwide capacity). He notes that when you look at advanced semiconductors, the percentage built in the U.S. is even smaller; those chips are “fantastically concentrated” in Taiwan. The U.S. decline in this area is a “terrible” thing.
04:02 — Can government funding helping the U.S .compete? Wayne’s not a big fan of government intervention in free markets but, he notes, “I think the U.S. government really has an obligation in national security, if nothing else, to protect us,” he says.
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06:42 — Addressing whether this can help Intel compete and strengthen its position in big opportunities such as AI, where NVIDIA has staked out a massive position, Wayne notes that Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger has said the company aims to be the leading chip designer in the world and the leading foundry. AI drives enormous computing needs and therefore requires trillions in investment. It’s an arms race in which there’s one guaranteed winner — the people who make the arms.
09:30 —As a CIO and an American citizen, Wayne hopes this initiative succeeds. “If the world gets increasingly uncertain and I can’t get parts from, say Taiwan, I think that will drive demand enormously toward the U.S. I think they [Intel] need to have a capability.”
