The Ministry of Economy and the giant of integrated circuits (chips) Intel announced at a press conference a collaboration agreement whose objective is to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain in Mexico and the participation of Mexican talent in the companies that are part of this chain.
The Federal Secretary of Economy, Tatiana Clouthierrecalled that as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, the importance of semiconductors in different industries became evident, as is the case of the automotive industry in Mexico. He said that since the High-Level Economic Dialogue (DEAN) between Mexico and the United States began, it has included two issues related to the manufacture of semiconductors: strengthening the supply chain and training talent.
In accordance with Santiago Cardona, CEO of Intel Mexico, the agreement seeks to strengthen the competitiveness of Mexican companies seeking to participate in the semiconductor supply chain through knowledge transfer; as well as developing Mexican talent in the field of semiconductors.
In an interview with El Economista, in September 2021, Cardona, who also serves as Vice President of Information Technology of the National Chamber of the Electrical, Electronic and Information Technology Industry (Canieti), said that since the semiconductor shortage problems began globally, and prior to the High-Level Economic Dialogue between Mexico and the States, the technology industry contacted the Ministry of Economy to start talks.
The goal of these conversations was to explore what are opportunities in the electronics sector both for domestic consumption of semiconductors and for export.
Also in September 2021, the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorin Mexico and Joe Biden, in the United States, resumed the High Level Economic Dialogue (DEAN), which the government of Enrique Peña Nieto had initiated together with his counterpart Barack Obama and which was interrupted by donald trump.
Although the descriptions at the beginning of this dialogue, which highlight the strengthening of new and existing supply chains as one of its pillars, do not mention the semiconductor sector, the Secretary of the Economy, Tatiana Clouthierhas stated that there is possibility of Mexico co-producing these inputs together with its neighboring country to the north.
Since then, several companies have announced the lifting of integrated circuit factories oriented mainly to the automotive sector. On the side of Intelthe company announced an investment of 20,000 million dollars for the construction of two chip factories in Ohio, USA. Despite these investments, the semiconductor shortage is not expected to be resolved any time soon.
