One of the areas I'd really hoped the US semiconductor investment act passed a few years ago would focus on are the 'jelly bean' chips / components.<p>By this point those need to be bog standard, RELIABLE TO SOURCE, commodity components. Like screws, staples, washers and semi-processed materials like rock-board, rolls or spools of metal / thread / cloth etc.<p>There should be more than one manufacturer, and geographic diversity within a country and among allies to mitigate risk factors like natural disasters and (may we never have to worry about it) attacks by enemies.<p>It's not just the shiny new leading edge and RnD; the full stack needs to be robust and provide competition to keep everything healthy. That's what a regulated market should offer, value from existing players, and when that fails either helping new entrants compete and see success in the market, or standing up a new government business to sell off (recoup investments, though I'd prefer it took profits and _all profits_ were deducted from the citizen tax base) after it's established.
> lackluster demand for older chips and tariff uncertainties ... numerous chip suppliers shift their investment strategies to "wait and see" mode.<p>That's coming up in other investment areas. The Wall Street Journal has been screaming about this for weeks. Nobody can figure out where to build capital-intensive projects because the rules change every few days.