America must act to secure its ‘legacy chips’ from China and other competitors 

Cutting-edge chips, especially those designed to power emerging AI applications, tend to receive the most attention in the media and generate the most excitement. However, so-called “legacy” chips are just as important — if not more — to our daily lives.   While technological and manufacturing advances in chip-making seek to make chips that are ever-smaller and more powerful, legacy chips are produced using more “mature” process technologies or “nodes,” which roughly describe the size of the features that can be designed into a chip. Larger nodes are associated with older legacy chips, while smaller nodes are associated with newer, more cutting-edge chips. Legacy chips can be found in a wide variety of products including vehicles, aircraft, appliances, military systems and medical devices, among others. Despite garnering less attention than their more cutting-edge cousins, legacy chips have been in the news recently. The Biden administration launched an investigation into China’s production of legacy chips, which they are able to manufacture at scale. According to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, around two-thirds of U.S. products contain legacy chips from China. The investigation will also research the extent to which legacy chips are used within products for critical industries, including applications like defense, healthcare, aerospace, communications and energy systems.  However, with the Biden administration in its final days, the investigation into legacy chips will soon be handed off to the incoming Trump administration. While it is uncertain what the new administration will do with the investigation, the need for secure and resilient supply…America must act to secure its ‘legacy chips’ from China and other competitors