Chip industry group warns US government against interventionist approach to memory chip shortage - Data Center Dynamics

The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has warned the U.S. government against interventionist policies in the memory chip market, urging officials not to influence pricing or p... Read original →

SEMI’s warning against U.S. intervention in memory markets reveals the industry’s acute sensitivity to policy-induced distortions. Technically, AI data centers now absorb 70% of global DRAM/NAND output, starving consumer electronics of allocation and disrupting mature-node supply chains like MCUs and CIS. Government-imposed price or capacity controls would fracture wafer fabs’ long-term agreement (LTA)-driven scheduling, inflate compliance overhead, and trigger inventory misalignment. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are already accelerating U.S. fab construction, but slow subsidy disbursement risks dampening their expansion appetite if regulatory uncertainty persists. Over the next 12–24 months, the market will bifurcate: HBM demand remains inelastic, while commodity memory faces amplified volatility. The real solution lies not in directives but in tax incentives and customer-anchored capacity commitments—a resilience model proven by TSMC and Taiwan, China’s ecosystem over two decades.