United States Announces Cooperation with Panama and Costa Rica to promote Semiconductor Industry

CTOnews.com, July 22, according to the Chip and Science Act of 2022, the United States announced that it will strengthen cooperation with Panama, Costa Rica and other neighboring countries in the semiconductor industry to explore the diversified development of the global semiconductor ecosystem.

"the United States sees Panama as a partner to ensure the diversification and flexibility of the semiconductor supply chain and will review Panama's current semiconductor industry, regulations and labor force," the State Department said in a statement on Thursday. to determine possible future cooperation under the Chip Act. "

Intel set up a testing and packaging plant in Costa Rica as early as 1997, but it has been largely closed since 2014.

Intel then assigned R & D tasks to similar companies in China, Malaysia and Vietnam and reopened in 2021 as a result of the epidemic.

Cynthia Telles, US ambassador to Costa Rica, said: "the US sees Costa Rica as a partner to ensure that the semiconductor supply chain can keep up with the current pace of digital transformation."

According to the data, the total value of Costa Rican integrated circuit exports in 2021 was US $518 million, accounting for 20 per cent of total exports.

CTOnews.com Note: Costa Rica also has iron, manganese, mercury, bauxite, gold, silver, nickel, germanium, molybdenum and other mineral resources, of which bauxite, iron and coal reserves reach 150 million tons, 400 million tons and 50 million tons respectively.