Intel has asked the Federal Communications Commission for a conditional waiver so it can keep buying foreign-made automated guided vehicles, the machines its chip fabs use to move materials and supplies between tools and sections of the factory. The company said it filed the request out of an abundance of caution to ensure its existing AGV units keep operating. Intel is the only chipmaker raising the issue with the agency so far.
AGVs are niche machines that help fabs maintain the cleanroom conditions each manufacturing process requires, which makes them critical equipment for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. According to Intel, there are no suitable domestic alternatives available right now. Intel's current fleet needs continuous maintenance, including software and firmware updates, and the company says finding a local supplier would take years and cripple U.S. chipmaking efforts.
The largest AGV suppliers are Japanese companies including Murata Machinery and Daifuku Co., and a few smaller businesses from South Korea and Taiwan are trying to enter the market. It is unclear why those companies have not applied for a conditional approval, which would let them keep selling in the U.S. while promising Washington they will establish a manufacturing base in the country. Netgear has already taken that route, allowing it to continue selling foreign-made routers despite being an American company.
Intel says it is unclear whether updates to its AGVs would break compliance with the FCC. Although Intel is alone in flagging AGVs for now, other chip manufacturers would likely need a similar waiver in the near future as they build more fabs in the U.S. That group includes TSMC, which plans 12 more fabs and four packaging facilities in Arizona, Samsung with its new Taylor, Texas, fab, and Elon Musk's Terafab, which has already begun construction.
Washington has been using the FCC to push companies to invest in American manufacturing, and blanket bans on foreign-made products such as drones and routers have hit big brands including DJI and TP-Link. Those bans do not outright prohibit sales of all products from these companies, particularly units approved before the restrictions, but they prevent the introduction of new products and even software updates to existing product lines. The FCC eventually walked back the software update ban, but companies still cannot register new products unless they build them in the U.S.
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