Bloomberg · Donald Trump · Samsung · U.S. Treasury · Datacenter Dynamics
Chip industry group signals US government against interventionist approach to memory chip shortage
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Chip industry trade association SEMI has written to the senior officials in US President Donald Trump's administration, urging the government to stop trying to influence memory prices and production capacity.
Key facts
- In January 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that data from TrendForce shows that up to 70 percent of the memory produced worldwide in 2026 will be consumed by data centers
- The letter was addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio
- While targeted policies can support accelerating domestic supply resilience, interventions that distort pricing or capacity decisions risk prolonging the demand downturn," SEMI said in its July 1
- Royal Kastens, the group's vice president of global public policy and advocacy, later said that SEMI members “appreciate the Trump administration's proactive efforts to bolster memory capacity
Summary
According to a report from Bloomberg, the group has warned that an interventionist approach is likely to worsen supply, as companies across all industries continue to grapple with the ongoing shortage of memory chips. Instead, SEMI, whose members include Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung, has said that companies should be allowed to continue striking long-term agreements with customers, adding that tax breaks should be extended to encourage production capacity increases in the US. "While targeted policies can support accelerating domestic supply resilience, interventions that distort pricing or capacity decisions risk prolonging the demand downturn," SEMI said in its July 1 letter, a copy of which has been seen by Bloomberg News.