Intel is the last US company with a bleeding edge fab. All other fabs below 15nm are outside the US, except for one Samsung fab in Texas. When Intel falls behind, that's the end of the US as a leader in the semiconductor industry.
They look at the military angle specifically ("Wall Street's short-term incentives have decimated our defense industrial base and undermined our national security.") but it's wider than that.
Example quotes:
> ...in the last 20 years, every single American producer of key telecommunication equipment sectors is gone. Today, only two European makers—Ericsson and Nokia—are left to compete with Huawei and another Chinese competitor, ZTE.
> ...public policies focused on finance instead of production, the United States increasingly cannot produce or maintain vital systems upon which our economy, our military, and our allies rely.
As for chip production capacity, "N. America" (is there anything in Canada or is this just "U.S."?), it's just 12.8% of worldwide capacity and 3/4 of capacity is in Asia: https://anysilicon.com/semiconductor-wafer-capacity-per-regi...
The idea of globalization was that where production is located does not matter, market "magic" somehow makes it irrelevant. I don't see how it does not matter when the imbalance becomes as extreme as it is nowadays. "Finance" is not an industry (if anyone wants to argue with me about the definition of that word I refer to https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-... -- you know what I mean).
It has been so long since something bad has happened that people believe it can't happen. Pax Americana can only last so long and with the way things are going right now it seems closer to its end than its beginning.
We need to re-learn to consume local products if we want to save this planet.
> Superfund sites are polluted locations in the United States requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations. They were designated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. CERCLA authorized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a list of such locations, which are placed on the National Priorities List (NPL).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites
> Superfund is a United States federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants. Sites managed under this program are referred to as "Superfund" sites. It was established as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).[1] It authorizes federal natural resource agencies, primarily the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), states and Native American tribes to recover natural resource damages caused by hazardous substances, though most states have and most often use their own versions of CERCLA. CERCLA created the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The EPA may identify parties responsible for hazardous substances releases to the environment (polluters) and either compel them to clean up the sites, or it may undertake the cleanup on its own using the Superfund (a trust fund) and costs recovered from polluters by referring to the U.S. Department of Justice.
See also https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/lens/the-superfund-sites-...
Arguments against free trade or trade “imbalance” are always one or more of the following: economically ignorant; mercantilist; racist; or nationalist. They all deny individual rights in favor of tribalism.
Should Intel really be considered a U.S. company these days?
I tend to consider companies like Intel (and IBM, and Apple, and Microsoft, etc.) international companies.