Last week, Intel, Micron and Analog Devices announced that they are joining the Semiconductor Alliance, a recent coalition of U.S. chipmakers seeking to bolster the country’s semiconductor industry.

The U.S. chip industry needs help if it’s going to stay competitive in the global arena. The acute supply chain troubles of the past couple years have hindered the timely availability of chips as well as placed a laser focus on the nation’s shortcomings.

To address the situation, tech foundation MITRE Engenuity convened the cross-industry Semiconductor Alliance in June 2021. It called for a “whole-of-nation” approach to building a “fair and objective” U.S. semiconductor industry by aligning key industry players in a focused national strategy.

Semiconductors have become the foundation of the modern economy, and the U.S. has fallen behind. Today, the U.S. is responsible for 12 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing, down from 37 percent in 1990, according to a white paper published by The Semiconductor Alliance. Taiwan-based TSMC has 47 percent of manufacturing capacity, and China is investing $150 billion with its sights set on gaining 40 percent of the world’s new chip manufacturing capacity by 2030.

“The semiconductor industry in the U.S. is at an inflection point. There has never been a more important time to come together as an industry to establish the path forward to advance the foundation of innovation that will help solve the nation’s biggest challenges,” said Ann Kelleher, executive vice president and general manager of technology development at Intel.

Kelleher continued: “The Semiconductor Alliance is an open collaboration that will leverage current and future R&D investments by industry and government throughout the U.S. and will support the spirit of the CHIPS for America Act to re-establish American industry leadership.”

The CHIPS for America Act, introduced in 2020, hopes to reestablish U.S. semiconductor leadership via a potential $52 billion in federal funding.

The Semiconductor Alliance plans to tackle issues including the “valley of death,” in which promising innovations get buried in research laboratories, never seeing the light of day. Other challenges include overcoming sparse venture capital investment; a lack of R&D cleanroom spaces, which delay time to market; and a shortage of foundry facilities, which continues U.S. dependence on other countries.

“To achieve truly next-generation technological advancement, companies must undertake bold exploration and take risks,” the alliance’s white paper states. “It is not enough to iteratively develop aspects of new technologies in isolation. Rather, it is critical to explore revolutionary new ideas that will require many elements to come together to create a functional new technology.”

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