With the gradual increase in the number of alliance members of the semiconductor alliance, behind the various alliances, there are not only the promotion of the development of the semiconductor industry, but also some other mysteries.

In March of this year, USA Today proposed a "Chip 4" alliance organization under global strategic considerations. The alliance members are mainly the United States, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to establish a global semiconductor product supply chain. If it really succeeds, the United States will strengthen cooperation with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, which are surrounding mainland China, and exert more pressure on China's semiconductor ecosystem.

From the perspective of the United States, if South Korea, Japan and Taiwan can be united, they will be able to take the initiative in various aspects such as semiconductor materials, components, chip manufacturing, and equipment technology. Industry insiders have analyzed that if the "Chip Quartet Alliance" progresses smoothly, three leading manufacturers from Taiwan, including MediaTek, TSMC, and ASE, which are involved in design, manufacturing and packaging and testing, will be invited; South Korea is represented by Samsung and SK Hynix; Japan Companies such as Toshiba, Renesas, and Tokyo Weilitech are the main ones; in the United States, there are heavyweight manufacturers such as Applied Materials, Micron, Intel, Broadcom, and Qualcomm, which will form the "strongest alliance in the history of semiconductors".

In the field of semiconductor equipment and materials, Applied Materials of the United States and Tokyo Electronics of Japan are the giants of semiconductor equipment and materials in the world. Applied Materials is a global semiconductor equipment giant. In 2020, Applied Materials continued to rank first in the global semiconductor equipment list released by VLSI Research with a revenue of US$16.365 billion. Applied Materials is an industry leader in both ion etching and thin film deposition. Tokyo Electronics, Japan, the company's products can cover almost all processes in the semiconductor manufacturing process. According to the ranking of global semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturers released by VLSI Research, Tokyo Electronics Japan is the number one semiconductor equipment company in Japan and the third largest in the world. Tokyo Electronics has a share of more than 70% in the equipment market of glue coating, developing equipment and FPD manufacturing.

In the field of chip design, Samsung Electronics, Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek occupy the first, second, fifth, and seventh positions respectively in Gartner's ranking of the top ten semiconductor suppliers by revenue in 2021. The design capabilities of these semiconductor giants are also very good.

In the field of chip design, Samsung Electronics, Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek occupy the first, second, fifth, and seventh positions respectively in Gartner's ranking of the top ten semiconductor suppliers by revenue in 2021. The design capabilities of these semiconductor giants are also very good.

In the field of chip packaging and testing, ASE is the world's largest chip packaging and testing service provider. The above companies play a pivotal role in each link of the semiconductor industry chain. The alliance of giants has a profound impact on the industry chain.

From the perspective of China's development, in recent years, China's semiconductor industry has developed rapidly. Driven by multiple factors, the market size has increased year by year, the overall strength of the industry has been rapidly improved, the industrial structure has been continuously optimized, and the concentration of industrial regions has also continued to increase. Mainland China has also maintained strong growth in building its semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, with 28 new fab construction projects announced in 2021, with new planned funding totaling $26 billion.

The United States feels threatened and is curbing the rapid growth of China's semiconductor industry in all aspects.

From the perspective of the United States, the US semiconductor industry maintains a leading market share in R&D-intensive fields such as EDA and core IP, chip design and manufacturing equipment, but manufacturing is a shortcoming of the United States. The U.S. share of modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity has fallen from 37% in 1990 to 12% in 2021, according to estimates by the Semiconductor Industry Alliance (SIA), largely because other governments have invested heavily in chip manufacturing incentives. The U.S. government has relocated manufacturing to Southeast Asia because of environmental pollution and labor returns. Therefore, the U.S. wants to implement related incentives to ensure the competitiveness of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.

For alliance companies, joining Chip 4 may cost them the Chinese market. According to SIA data, global chip sales will reach a record $555.9 billion in 2021, and mainland China remains the world's largest semiconductor market, with sales totaling $192.5 billion in 2021.

According to South Korean media analysis, the South Korean government has not yet made a statement on this, because South Korean semiconductor companies have key production facilities in mainland China, and Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have established factories in China, and their products have an important share in the global market. Samsung Electronics' only overseas memory chip factory is located in Xi'an. Its NAND factory has a monthly production capacity of 265,000 12-inch wafers, accounting for 42% of Samsung Electronics' total NAND flash production. SK Hynix produces DRAM chips in Wuxi, accounting for 47% of the company's total DRAM chip output.

Taiwanese manufacturers also privately revealed that the establishment of Chip 4 is quite difficult, coupled with the fact that many related semiconductor companies have competitive relationships, it is not easy to close alliances, and the main feasible model may be to clamp the development of the mainland semiconductor industry from the equipment and EDA tools.

For the United States, if Chip 4 is officially established, it will be able to curb the development of China's semiconductor industry. China's semiconductors are relatively dependent on foreign technology and equipment. Once Chip 4 plays a role, China will be in a embattled situation in the entire semiconductor industry, from chip design to chip manufacturing, from chip raw materials to chip equipment. China has lost more development opportunities.

However, what the United States does is nothing more than drinking poison to quench its thirst. Now that the semiconductor industry chain has been globalized, such an approach will only make the already unreliable semiconductor supply chain hit again.

In fact, for the United States, it is the top priority to strengthen the manufacturing industry in the United States through its own efforts, especially the development of high-tech semiconductor manufacturing, which can not only help the United States create more jobs, but also make up for the US semiconductor industry in The weakness of the manufacturing industry has strengthened the overall competitiveness of the US semiconductor industry chain.