Readout of Secretary Raimondo’s Convening on Legacy Semiconductors

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo convened a roundtable discussion with investors to discuss non-market actions from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that threaten to distort the market for mature node (or “legacy”) semiconductors.

Secretary Raimondo emphasized her concern that over the past few years, the U.S. has seen signs of concerning practices from the PRC to overproduce legacy chips and prevent U.S. companies, and those in like-minded countries, from competing on a level playing field. The Secretary underscored that securing the semiconductor supply chain is an economic and national security priority and reiterated the actions that the Department of Commerce—and the whole federal government—are taking.

Those actions include imposing targeted tariffs on semiconductors imported from the PRC, an industrial base survey of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, joint efforts with international partners, and restrictions on the use of PRC semiconductors in U.S. government procurement. Investors discussed how companies are thinking about oversupply and overconcentration risk, and how additional U.S. government actions could most effectively support resilient semiconductor supply chains.