The US wants to beat China on chips: Rising geopolitical tensions with China have the US scrambling to onshore the manufacture of more parts and products. Nowhere is that more apparent than with semiconductors, or chips, which are a key component of everything from cars to computers, smartphones, appliances, and medical equipment.

Asia dominates global supply chains: Some 75% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity is located in China and East Asia, with Taiwan alone accounting for 92% of advanced chipmaking. Conversely, the US has seen its share fall from 37% in 1990 to just 12% in 2020 while Europe accounts for 9%. Western economies are forecast to see their share further decline over the current decade, falling to 10% in the US and 8% in Europe. East Asian economies, meanwhile, are projected to hold 77% of global market share.

A few big players produce most of the world’s chips. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s biggest chipmaker with a market share of almost 54% of global semiconductor revenues, while Korea’s Samsung has 16.3%, according to Statista. TSMC makes 24% of the world’s chips and more than 90% of the most advanced 5 nanometer (nm) chips used in US fighter jets, iphones, supercomputers, automotive AI, and highest end processors, according to a CNBC documentary (watch, runtime: 56:38).

They’re the same names driving innovation: TSMC and Samsung are among the only producers of the smallest and fastest 5 nm chips. Samsung last summer beat its rivals to the punch to manufacture the world’s first 3 nm chip, which the company says upgrades computing performance by 23%, decreases power consumption by 45%, and is 16% smaller than the 5 nm chip. US-based Intel is still struggling to produce its first 5 nm chip, Insider Intelligence reported last year.

The US is a major chip buyer — and it’s worried about its supply chain. North America accounts for 65% of sales generated by TSMC, according to the Financial Times. That statistic is making US policymakers and businesses worried about escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing over the status of Taiwan, where the company is based. Beijing last year stepped up military drills around the island amid a war of words with the US that saw President Joe Biden twice issue the unusual warning that the US would militarily defend Taiwan against an attack. “If China would invade Taiwan, that would be the biggest impact we’ve seen to the global economy — possibly ever” thanks to disruptions to chip supply, Glenn O'Donnell, vice president at research and advisory firm Forrester, told Insider.

Now Amreeka is playing catch up: The Biden administration is encouraging major chip makers to invest bns of USDs to build chip fabrication plants on US soil in a bid to hedge against any future standoffs with China that could trouble supply chains, according to the CNBC documentary. TSMC is building a mega USD 40 bn chip plant in Phoenix, Arizona that is expected to go live by 2024, with more expansion to come. Samsung, meanwhile, is building a USD 17 bn chip plant in Texas, also expected to start operations in 2024. And Intel is investing USD 20 bn for its own giant chip plant in Ohio, which should begin producing by 2025.

The Biden administration is offering handouts to chipmakers: US legislators last summer passed the CHIPS Act, which will offer some USD 39 bn in incentives and a 25% tax credit on capex spending to local chipmakers, as well as another USD 13.2 bn for research and development, according to a White House statement. Micron, Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries announced plans to invest more than USD 44 bn in total to build memory chips and semiconductors in the US in tandem with the introduction of the act.

But some still doubt the business case for US chipmaking. TSMC’s Phoenix project is facing doubts over its viability, the New York Times reports. “TSMC’s investment in the US from a business perspective makes no sense at all,” said Kirk Yang, the head of PE firm Kirkland Capital, citing high costs and managerial problems. Others suggest the plant is being built as a concession to the US for political reasons alone.

And the US incentives come with restrictions against doing business in China: Chipmakers who receive help through the CHIPS Act must pledge not to expand operations in China for a decade under new rules imposed by the US Commerce Department just last week, the Financial Times reports.The Biden administration also imposed a ban on US chip companies selling semiconductors to China in September, elevating its tech war against Beijing.