EXECUTIVE Q&A: JOHN NEUFFER, PRESIDENT & CEO, SIA
ATREG recently sat down with John Neuffer, President and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) headquartered in Washington D.C., to discuss the impact of the current tariff situation on the global semiconductor industry as well as the policies put in place to try to reshore chip production to the United States.
In your opinion, what will be the biggest impact of tariffs on U.S. semiconductor production?
SIA supports President Trump’s goal of expanding American semiconductor production. To that end, companies in the semiconductor ecosystem have announced investments totaling over half-a-trillion dollars across 28 states. These projects are projected to more than triple U.S. production capacity by 2032, make our country stronger, grow our economy, and make our supply chains more resilient. Untargeted tariffs risk reducing American competitiveness by raising the cost on inputs to develop technology and manufacture chips in America.
To ensure the long-term success of the U.S. semiconductor industry, we must ensure America is a cost-competitive location to research, design, and manufacture chips. Achieving this goal requires attracting private investment, removing trade and other barriers to U.S. chips in overseas markets, and negotiating bilateral and sectoral trade deals to create new demand and open markets for U.S. semiconductor sales.
You mentioned an expansion of chip production in America. Can you share a little more about that effort?
Following decades of decline in the share of global chip manufacturing capacity located in the U.S., America is now undergoing an extraordinary resurgence in chip manufacturing capacity located in the U.S. Thanks largely to chip manufacturing incentives initiated during President Trump’s first term, companies have announced more than $540 billion in private-sector investments to revitalize the U.S. chip ecosystem. These projects will create and support over 500,000 American jobs – 68,000 facility jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem, 122,000 construction jobs, and over 320,000 additional jobs supported throughout the U.S. economy. And America is now on track to capture a substantial share of global production of advanced semiconductors. These investments will greatly strengthen America’s economy, national security, technology leadership, and critical supply chains.
What is the role of tax incentives and other policies in driving greater chip production in the U.S.?
Tax incentives are a critical tool to make the U.S. a more cost-competitive location for semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing. Most urgently, leaders in Washington should extend, expand, and strengthen a critical tax incentive – the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (AMIC) – that has helped catalyze these company investments. This credit should be: 1) extended beyond its 2026 expiration; 2) expanded to cover other critical areas of the semiconductor ecosystem, including design and research; and 3) strengthened by increasing the rate from 25% to 35%. Doing so would accelerate America’s reindustrialization, spur additional investment, and enhance our global competitiveness. SIA also supports permanently extending the current deduction on Foreign-derived Intangible Income (FDII) and restoring immediate domestic R&D expensing through 2029.
When it comes to the other policies needed to build on recent reshoring momentum, what will cement U.S. chip resurgence?
Policy is playing an increasingly critical role in our industry’s ability to grow and innovate. To cement America’s chip resurgence, we must ensure the U.S. remains a competitive destination to invest in semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing. It’s also critical that policymakers support existing R&D initiatives and grow federal investment in semiconductor research and basic research across the physical sciences to enable U.S. technology leadership and win technologies of the future. We also must grow the talent pipeline by developing, attracting, and retaining a high-skilled workforce. And on the global policy front, we must restore U.S. trade leadership, build strong and complementary global chip supply chains, and facilitate access to new and growing markets.
How important are the sectoral trade agreements that drive up demand for U.S. chips abroad and strengthen our supply chains?
To complement the buildout of domestic manufacturing capacity, we must also ensure there is strong demand for Made-in-America chips both at home and around the world. To help advance this effort, we think semiconductors and our broader supply chains – both upstream and downstream – are a ripe target for negotiating a sectoral agreement with our partners. Such an effort would help provide a pathway for the U.S. and its friends to build stronger and more complementary global chip supply chains and facilitate access to new and growing markets. A sectoral agreement among likeminded partners would also address unfair trade practices and help to accomplish the Trump Administration’s “re-balancing” objectives.
About John Neuffer
John Neuffer is President and CEO and ex officio board member of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), which has been the voice of the chip industry for over four decades. He has been at the nexus of technology, public policy, and trade for most of his career. Since joining SIA in 2015, John has led the association’s policy advocacy in Washington and capitals around the world to foster growth and innovation in semiconductor design, manufacturing, and research. John also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Semiconductor Research Corporation, the world’s leading non-profit industry-government-academia microelectronics research consortium.
Prior to joining SIA, John served as Senior Vice President for Global Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, where he led a global team to expand market access opportunities for member companies around the world. He directed all global government relations in trade, cybersecurity, standards, regulatory, Internet governance, and privacy.
Previously, John served for over seven years at the Office of United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington, DC: two years as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Affairs, preceded by over five years as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan.
Prior to his tenure with USTR, John was a Senior Research Fellow and Political Analyst with the Mitsui Kaijyo Research Institute in Tokyo for nine years. As a leading commentator on Japanese politics and policy at the institute, he published a widely read newsletter and wrote regular commentary for the Asian Wall Street Journal, TheStreet.com and Newsweek Japan. All told, John lived in Japan 11 years. He is a native of Montana and Washington State.
BEYOND THE BOTTLENECK: UNLOCKING ADVANCED PACKAGING CAPACITY THROUGH STRATEGIC FACILITY SOLUTIONS
The AI revolution is rewriting the rules of semiconductor manufacturing, and nowhere is this more evident than in advanced packaging. As demand outstrips supply and traditional industry boundaries blur, new opportunities are emerging for companies willing to rethink their facility strategies. In this article, ATREG explores how the advanced packaging boom is creating unexpected winners and reshaping the traditional back-end landscape.
Click here to read the full article.
ATREG INVITED TO SPEAK AT SEMICON WEST 2025
ATREG is pleased to announce that COO Annie Rothrock has been invited to moderate a panel at this year’s SEMICON West to be held from October 7 to 9 in Phoenix, AZ.
Entitled Resources for expanding operations in the U.S., the panel will take place the afternoon of October 8th and feature representatives from some of the world’s most reputable global semiconductor industry players, including:
- Thorsten Scheer, Regional President, Automotive Electronics division, North America, Robert Bosch GmbH
- Kristin Baldwin Homsi, Manager of Supply Chain, Manufacturing & Technology, Bechtel Corporation
- More names to be announced
Our panelists will take a deep dive into the resources needed for expanding semiconductor operations in the U.S., covering a range of topics from fab construction, logistics, and supply chain to workforce and economic development.
Click here to register for the event. We look forward to seeing you there!
POWERING AI: COULD U.S. BROWNFIELD SEMICONDUCTOR FABS FUEL THE HYPERSCALE BOOM?
Hyperscale computing – mega data centers with tens of thousands of servers – is all about achieving massive scale in computing, typically for big data or cloud computing. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to drive a surge in global computing demand, a critical question is emerging: how will we power it all? What if the semiconductor industry held part of the answer? Repurposing existing brownfield wafer fabs – manufacturing facilities already outfitted with substantial power infrastructure and substations – offers a compelling opportunity, but is it really feasible?
To meet the demand for AI compute – the vast hardware resources required to train and deploy AI models – that is growing at an exponential rate, the U.S. semiconductor landscape could evolve toward hybrid facilities that combine chip manufacturing, high-performance computing, and power resilience. The future of AI depends not only on the chips we build, but on where and how we power them. In this byline recently published in GSA Forum, the Global Semiconductor Alliance‘s quarterly online magazine, ATREG President and CEO Stephen Rothrock explores how brownfield wafer fabs could possibly help meet our insatiable need for power in the accelerating AI era.
Click here to read the full article.
WHO’S GOING TO PAY FOR LEADING EDGE?
The U.S. semiconductor industry is currently at a pivotal crossroads. In February 2024, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo declared that CHIPS and Science Act investments will put the U.S. on track to manufacture roughly 20% of leading-edge logic chips used in advanced and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and machine learning by the end of the decade. Today, U.S. fabricators make none of these chips. With the CHIPS Act funding nearly fully allocated, the new U.S. administration is now taking a hard look at the distribution of these funds, putting the validity of the CHIPS Act itself in question, and shifting the focus to understanding where the money went, leaving semiconductor companies uncertain as to what deals will go ahead and which ones may be altered.
As the global semiconductor market lags behind more than anticipated and struggles to keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies, one question arises – who will shoulder the hefty financial burden required for the development of the next generation of semiconductor R&D and leading-edge innovation? In this contributed article penned by ATREG President and CEO Stephen Rothrock and published in the April/May issue of Semiconductor Digest, we delve into the complexities of these questions, exploring the current funding landscape, the challenges of advancing semiconductor technology, and the potential pathways forward for U.S. chip makers.
Click here to read the full article.
SEE YOU AT GLOBAL INDUSTRY EVENTS
Members of the ATREG team look forward to reconnecting with you at upcoming global industry conferences over the coming few months. Whether your company seeks to acquire or sell a brownfield wafer fab or select the best location for a brand-new greenfield facility, please don’t hesitate to email us to set up an appointment with one of our fab transaction advisors to discuss your semiconductor infrastructure-rich manufacturing asset needs. We hope to see you there!
- September 8-11 – Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference, San Francisco, USA
- September 23 – GSA U.S. Executive Forum, Menlo Park, USA
- October 1 – GSA WLI WISH Conference, San Jose, USA
- October 7-9 – SEMICON West, Phoenix, USA