Tracing the Import Sources of Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment

Nathan Lotze,Office of IndustryandCompetitiveness Analysis

theirleading source ofSME imports by value(81 percent),driven by firms likeTokyo Electron.

Overview: As a resultof COVID-19 related semiconductor supply chain shortages,bothindustry and policymakers have pursued efforts to increase domestic chipmanucturingcapacity inthe United States.Publicand private investmenthas spurred theconstruction of new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, alsoknownas"fabs,"aswell astheexpansionofexistingones.Withnew andexpandedfabs,however,comesthe need for moresemiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME).

SME referstoabroad rangeof products used to manufacture chips. Itcan includegoods like lithographysystems, deposition and etching equipment,as well as metrology tools.The United States isone of theleading exportersof SME,accountingfor17percent($20billion)of global exportsin2023.However,countries outside of the United States,suchas Japan (21 percent),the Netherlands (21 percent), andSingapore (18 percent) arealsomajorexporters. Thispaper seeks to understandthe specificU.S.importsources, including country and supplier, used byfour semiconductorfirms with notable domesticfabprojects: Intel,Micron, Texas Instruments(TI),and TSMC.Supplier Analysis: A Bill of Lading (BOL)is adocument used in sea transport, whichservesas a contractof carriage, transportreceipt,andlegal	Figure1. Sources ofSMEImports by DomesticChip Maker 2019-2023(in millions$USD)
titlefor the goods being shipped. Public access toBOL data arerestrictedin the U.S.to only sea-based	GERMANY	JAPAN	SINGAPORE	TAIWAN	OTHER
trade, therefore this dataexcludesground and air-	900
basedimports.Accordingto data compiled from	800
BOLs,these four firmsdirectlyimported$2 billion	700

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