The US government is talking to Intel, Samsung and TSMC about building fabs in the US, reports the Wall Street Journal.

TSMC’s fabs are in Hsinchu and Tainan in Taiwan and in Nanjing in China

Samsung’s fabs are in Giheung, Hwaseong, Onyang and  Pyeongtaek in Korea, in Xi’an and Suzhou in China and in Austin, Texas.

Intel’s fabs are in Arizona, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Oregon in the USA and in Leixlip, Ireland, Jerusalem and Kiryat Gap in Israel and in Dalian, China.

US officials are said to be suggesting to Samsung that it should expand its foundry operations in the USA.

The US has been trying to persuade TSMC to build a fab in the US for a couple of years and TSMC has said it is considering it.

Recently it has been talking to the US Departments of Defence and Commerce and to Apple about fabbing in America.

Intel gets very compelling offers from foreign countries to locate fabs outside the US and presumably will want inducements to build its next fab in the US.

The US government is concerned that Intel is the only US  company operating state-of-the-art commercial fabs in the US.