I governi dei paesi G7 hanno raggiunto un accordo per una “tassa minima globale”. Dopo quasi un decennio di negoziati che avevano sempre incontrato l’opposizione di Washington, Biden ha accolto le richieste dei governi europei (Francia in testa, Italia e Germania al seguito) che minacciavano di fare da soli.
Adesso il negoziato si sposta al G20, dove si spera di convincere rapidamente gli altri “grandi”: per un accordo di principio si parla già del G20 delle Finanze a Venezia di luglio.
Semiconductors are the world's fourth-most-traded product after crude oil, refined oil, and cars.
Driven by acute shortages and growing geopolitical competition, semiconductors have shot up the EU policy agenda over the past year. Caught in the crossfire of a global trade war and exposed to the vagaries of an undiversified supply chain, Europe has understood how its strategic autonomy is dependent on these chips. Looking further ahead, Europe aims to diversify its economic structure and be at the forefront of the next generation of digital technologies.
Seventeen elements in the periodic table – the so-called “rare earths” – play a major role in the calculations and strategies of various nations. In many ways, rare earths are the vitamins of industrial society in the 21st century: they are vital to key products from hi-tech items (smartphones and monitors) to energy conversion systems (wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and electrical machinery) and even military equipment (lasers and radar). The difficulties involved in replacing them with alternative materials make rare earths uniquely strategic resources.
The continued global chip shortage in recent months amid the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of semiconductors, their supply chain, production stages and business cycle in the global economy.
America’s 78-year-old president, Joe Biden, might not seem like the world’s most tech savvy leader. But some of his administration’s biggest policies have focused on a small but fundamentally important technology: the semiconductor. Known more prosaically as “computer chips”, semiconductors power technology of all types from vast data centers to the simplest consumer electronics. In the age of the Internet of Things, almost every electrical device has a semiconductor inside.
Taiwan has long been one of the most essential actors for the global semiconductor manufacturing industry, with the world’s largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and a top fabless integrated circuit (IC) design company, MediaTek. TSMC accounted for over 50% of the 2020 global semiconductor foundry market on top of being the only chipmaker that has mastered the 5nm chip production alongside its rival, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.
Semiconductors are the strategic industry of the 21st Century. They are the foundation of economic and military power. Future industries will be based on the ability to use semiconductors and software to create new goods and services. Semiconductors are also one of the most highly advanced technologies, operating at the edge of physics and material sciences, and the product of a complex, distributed supply chain centered on the Pacific Rim.
La CDU supera l’estrema destra e trionfa in Sassonia-Anhalt: ultimo test in vista delle elezioni federali di settembre.
