Chip industry warns US against memory market meddling

This article was published on July 3, 2026 As the AI-driven memory shortage turns political, the semiconductor group SEMI has warned the Trump administration that steering prices or capacity would only deepen the squeeze. It wants long-term supply deals and tax breaks instead, and consumer tax credits to cushion rising phone and laptop prices. The memory shortage has become a political problem in Washington. Now the chip industry has a message for the Trump administration: leave the market alone, or the squeeze gets worse. The warning came in a letter from SEMI, a semiconductor industry group, to senior US officials. Any attempt to fix the shortage by steering prices or production would deepen it, the group said, as Bloomberg reported. The crunch traces back to the AI boom, which is swallowing memory chips faster than makers can produce them. SEMI’s argument is blunt. “Interventions that distort pricing or capacity decisions risk prolonging the demand downturn,” the group wrote, in a copy seen by Bloomberg. It wants the opposite approach. Let companies keep signing long-term supply deals with customers, and extend tax breaks that lift US output. The stakes are high for its members.