While the U.S. government is willing to help semiconductor companies to build new fabs in the country, it sets rather strict requirements for those getting funding under the CHIPS and Science act. But South Korean chipmakers are dismayed by the requirement of submitting detailed information about fab capacity and even expected yields, among other things. They consider these requirements a threat to their trade secrets, reports Business Korea.
As part of the application process for subsidies, the U.S. Department of Commerce demands companies to submit such details as projected fab production capacity by wafer type, utilization rate, expected wafer yield, initial selling prices, production volumes for each year, and projected price changes. Companies asking for subsidies must also submit profitability indicators such as projected cash flows in Excel files to validate their calculation methods.
