The ethical implications and underlying motivations for reshoring semiconductor manufacturing to the United States

Semiconductor innovation has rapidly accelerated in the last decade, with devices having higher density of processing units and the advent of the graphics processing unit (GPU). These innovations have powered everything from driverless cars and generative AI models to life-saving products like prosthetics and healthcare devices. However, they have also made it possible to build intelligent weapons such as advanced intelligence and reconnaissance agents and precision guided missiles. For years, governments around the world have been leveraging semiconductor innovation to bolster their national security and military positioning through advanced digital technology. All of this is made possible by the integration of small microelectronics assembled primarily in Asian Pacific nations like Taiwan and South Korea. The paramount advantage that semiconductors have in international dominance for nations, not only in military positioning but also economic leverage, has created tensions around who can gain access to advanced microelectronics and frankly, who can control its supply chain. All the while, resurgence of semiconductor manufacturing in the United States by governmental initiatives has environmental and societal impacts to communities nearby. Due to my interest in semiconductor research and development, I decided to explore the geopolitical, societal, and environmental impact of the semiconductor supply chain through a sociotechnical lens and frameworks.
During my University of Virginia studies, I primarily focused my education on the intersection of computer science and electronics, which introduced me to the semiconductor industry. I have participated in the utilization of advanced semiconductors like GPUs for the Mechatronics and Robotics Society and NASA Lunabotics Challenge where I contributed to building a robot capable of traversing and mining the moon’s surface for NASA’s Artemis mission. It was through this experience that I began to learn about the use of space for reconnaissance, nations’ interest to dominate space, and the pivotal role that semiconductors play in building technologies capable of this. This experience compelled me to study the semiconductor industry and supply chain as a whole, specifically examining the United States government’s initiatives to reshore semiconductor manufacturing through the Biden Administration’s Chips and Science and Act, and the geopolitical interests that underlie the initiative.
I particularly explored the three major problems concerning American reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing: the economic impetus of reshoring, the national security and military motivations, and community and environmental concerns due to establishing microelectronic manufacturing domestically. I used an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework to break down the semiconductor supply chain into actors from organization actors like the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and chip companies to social actors like the workforce and nearby communities impacted by semiconductor production. This network helped to see how actors interact with each other and uncover the underlying motivations behind reshoring as well as the implications/impacts that reshoring poses. Through the actor-network, I discovered that the initial offshoring of semiconductor manufacturing was due to environmental and community impacts from chemical exposure and resource strain, as well as economic forces that demanded cheaper manufacturing. This outweighed national security due to semiconductors being largely general-purpose of consumer electronics and the technology being early in maturity for advanced military applications. However, due to economic standstills caused by the concentration of semiconductor manufacturing in a handful of countries and shortage of chip supply, economic forces shifted in favor of controlling the semiconductor supply chain. Additionally, the emergence of adversary countries like China, Russia, and Iran, who have access to increasingly advanced processing technologies, has shifted greater emphasis and concern in favor of national security, overshadowing the societal impacts of domestic semiconductor production.