Semiconductor Supply Chain Bottlenecks
| Rank | Bottleneck Area | Why It’s Critical in U.S. Context | Risk Factors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lithography Equipment (EUV/DUV) | U.S. fabs (Intel, Micron, TSMC AZ, Samsung TX) depend entirely on ASML. No domestic capability. | 100% foreign dependence (Netherlands), long lead times, export controls. |
| 2 | Permitting & Environmental Reviews | Federal (NEPA), state, and local approvals often delay fab builds by 2–5 years. | Lengthy EIS reviews, lawsuits, local resistance (NIMBY). |
| 3 | High-Purity Silicon Wafers | U.S. imports nearly all 300mm wafers (Japan, Germany, Taiwan). | Import dependence, purity requirements, slow ramp-up. |
| 4 | Specialty Gases (Neon, Fluorine, Argon) | No large-scale U.S. neon purification; imports dominate. | Ukraine/Russia disruptions, purity constraints, limited stockpiles. |
| 5 | Advanced Packaging (CoWoS, HBM stacking, Foveros) | U.S. lags; almost all advanced packaging is in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore. | Critical for AI/GPUs; U.S. programs years away. |
| 6 | Substrate Materials (ABF, Ajinomoto Film) | 100% import-dependent from Japan. | Supply/demand crunch, no U.S. suppliers. |
| 7* | Power Availability & Grid Interconnection | Fabs need 100–400 MW each; grid tie-ins take years. | Grid congestion, long transmission permitting, competition with AI datacenters & EV gigafactories. |
| 8 | Water Access & Rights | Fabs need 2–5M gallons/day of ultrapure water. | Drought in AZ/TX, water rights disputes, costly treatment infrastructure. |
| 9 | Critical Minerals (Gallium, Germanium, Rare Earths, SiC, GaN) | U.S. has ore but little refining; China dominates processing. | Export bans, permitting delays for mines, slow refining build-out. |
| 10 | Workforce (Fab Technicians & Engineers) | Severe shortage of skilled labor; fabs coming online faster than talent pipeline. | 10+ year training lag, immigration barriers, housing shortages. |
* - #7 position if microgrids + onsite DER are used in conjunction with grid tie-in.
