Foreign media: Shortcomings in packaging and testing capabilities may cause US chip bill investment to fail

According to foreign media reports, although US lawmakers are ready to approve a $52 billion package of incentives to revitalize the domestic semiconductor industry, there are concerns that most of the financial support will go to chipmakers that do not need assistance, while the shrinking back-end packaging and testing sectors will be neglected.

Industry experts said that without rebuilding a more balanced industrial ecosystem, the grand chip bill plan is unlikely to succeed.

EE Times quoted technology expert Matt Kelly as saying that one of the biggest gaps in the U.S. electronics industry is IC substrates, "We have never produced IC substrates in North America."

Currently, almost all substrate manufacturers are in Asia. The leading suppliers are Shenzhen South Circuit Co., Ltd. in China, Xinxing Electronics Co., Ltd. and ASE Group Co., Ltd. in Taiwan.

Kelly said: "In the field of IC substrates, we are more than 20 years behind Asia."

EE Times further pointed out that the world's largest packaging and testing factories are all in Asia, and they do not intend to follow the recent huge investments made by Asian chip manufacturers such as TSMC and Samsung in the United States. The scarcity of packaging and testing companies in the United States will hinder plans to establish a secure electronics supply chain and will also make it difficult for the United States to catch up with the current wave of packaging technology advances.

In addition to the shortage of corporate entities and production facilities, the analysis also points out that there is a severe shortage of packaging and testing labor with professional skills in the United States.

In contrast, the packaging and testing industry in Asia, represented by mainland China, is developing very actively.

Faced with the above problems, industry insiders pointed out that it is not easy to convince the US government to allocate incentive funds for packaging and testing relief.

An unnamed electronics industry lobbyist in Washington, D.C., told EE Times that of the planned $52 billion in subsidies, only about $2.5 billion is likely to go to advanced packaging.