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Lagging care economy "makes us uncompetitive," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says

Jul 15, 2021
Raimondo discusses the infrastructure packages moving through Congress and the semiconductor chip shortage.
"If we're able to land the plane on these packages, it'll be a great day in America," says Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo about the Biden administration's infrastructure plan.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Fortune/Time Inc.

From semiconductors to containers, “every day, it’s a different problem” on the supply chain

Jun 2, 2021
A conversation with the CEO of an importer caught in the crosshairs of global business disruption.
A cargo ship is loaded at a Chinese port. India Hynes, CEO of Vinotemp, said getting product onto vessels in China is among the biggest problems facing her company.
STR/AFP via Getty Images

Shortage of semiconductors is a security risk, and what the U.S. can do about it

Apr 21, 2021
Semiconductors are in almost everything, including military equipment, and we don’t have enough of them.
Biden’s infrastructure proposal calls for $50 billion to create a technology directorate that would focus, in part, on semiconductor manufacturing.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Durable goods orders sidetracked by February storms and pandemic shortages

Mar 24, 2021
Despite disruptions caused by bad weather and limited semiconductor supplies, durable goods shipments are up 2% year-over-year.
Durable goods are big-ticket items that last for three years or more, like clothes dryers and vehicles.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Industrial policy: If China does it, why can't we?

Mar 1, 2021
China is generous to its favored companies, and that has, at times, threatened industries elsewhere in the world.
Targeted subsidies for specific industries have long been part of China's strategic development. Solar energy is just one of the areas where this strategy has been used.
AFP via Getty Images

How the U.S. could regain its competitive edge

Feb 24, 2021
President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday designed to make U.S. supply chains more resilient and secure.
The shortage of medical masks in 2020 was one sign that the U.S. needs to improve the security and resilience of its supply chains.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Why U.S. chipmakers want government help

Feb 16, 2021
The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association has asked President Biden for robust funding for manufacturing and research.
Roughly only 12% of semiconductor chips are made in the U.S., says C.J. Muse, research analyst with investment banking advisory firm Evercore ISI.
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Extended downtime for GM plants doesn't mean workers are losing their jobs

Feb 10, 2021
The company says there's a semiconductor shortage, and it will reassess the situation in mid-March
Vehicles go through the assembly line at the General Motors Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant on Feb. 21, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Ford is latest automaker to cut production due to microchip shortage

Jan 11, 2021
When the pandemic first hit last spring, auto plants shut down and carmakers curbed semiconductor orders.
The Ford factory in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2017. The plant recently had to shut down due to a shortage of semiconductors.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

"Amateur" mistakes sink thieves of U.S. technology working for China

Dec 22, 2020
A case study of what not to do in the high-stakes world of economic espionage.
Chris Miller, a professor of history at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, says these controls are all about national security.
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