Previous Article 90 FR 72 pgs. 15950-15951 - Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment
Type: NOTICEVolume: 90Number: 72Pages: 15950 - 15951
Pages: 15950, 15951Docket number: [Docket No. 250414-0066]
FR document: [FR Doc. 2025-06591 Filed 4-14-25; 4:15 pm]
Agency: Commerce Department
Sub Agency: Industry and Security Bureau
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Industry and Security
[Docket No. 250414-0066]
XRIN 0694-XC121
Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment
AGENCY:
Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security, U.S. Department of Commerce.
ACTION:
Notice of request for public comments.
SUMMARY:
The Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security of imports of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME), and their derivative products. This investigation has been initiated under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. Interested parties are invited to submit written comments, data, analyses, or other information pertinent to the investigation to the Department of Commerce's (Department) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security. This notice identifies issues on which the Department is especially interested in obtaining the public's views.
DATES:
Comments may be submitted at any time but must be received by May 7, 2025.
ADDRESSES:
Comments on this notice may be submitted to the Federal rulemaking portal at: www.regulations.gov. The regulations.gov ID for this notice is BIS-2025-0021 Please refer to XRIN 0694-XC121 in all comments.
All filers using the portal should use the name of the person or entity submitting the comments as the name of their files, in accordance with the instructions below. Anyone submitting business confidential information should clearly identify the business confidential portion at the time of submission, file a statement justifying nondisclosure and referring to the specific legal authority claimed, and provide a non-confidential version of the submission.
[top] For comments submitted electronically containing business confidential information, the file name of the business confidential version should begin with the characters "BC." Any page containing business confidential information must be clearly marked "BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL" on the top of that page. The corresponding non-confidential version of those comments must be clearly marked "PUBLIC." The file name of the non-confidential version should begin with the character "P." Any submissions with file names that do not begin with either a "BC" or a "P" will be assumed to be public and will be made publicly available at: https://www.regulations.gov. Commenters submitting business confidential information are encouraged to scan a hard copy of the non-confidential
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephen Astle, Director, Defense Industrial Base Division, Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-2533, semiconductors232@bis.doc.gov . For more information about the section 232 program, including the regulations and the text of previous investigations, see www.bis.doc.gov/232.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On April 1, 2025, the Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act (19 U.S.C. 1862) to determine the effects on national security of imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and their derivative products. This includes, among other things, semiconductor substrates and bare wafers, legacy chips, leading-edge chips, microelectronics, and SME components. Derivative products include downstream products that contain semiconductors, such as those that make up the electronics supply chain.
Request for Public Comments
This investigation is being undertaken in accordance with part 705 of the National Security Industrial Base Regulations (15 CFR parts 700 through 709) ("NSIBR"). Interested parties are invited to submit written comments, data, analyses, or information pertinent to this investigation to BIS's Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security no later than May 7, 2025. The Department is particularly interested in comments and information directed at the criteria listed in §?705.4 of the regulations as they affect national security, including the following:
(i) the current and projected demand for semiconductors (including as embedded in downstream products) and SME in the United States, differentiated by product type and node size;
(ii) the extent to which domestic production of semiconductors can or is expected to be able to meet domestic demand at each node size for each product type, and similarly the extent to which domestic production of SME can or is expected to be able to meet domestic demand;
(iii) the role of foreign fabrication and assembly, test and packaging facilities in meeting United States semiconductors demand, and similarly the role of foreign supply of SME in meeting domestic demand;
(iv) the concentration of United States semiconductors imports (including as embedded in downstream products) from a small number of fabrication facilities and the associated risks, and similarly the concentration of United States SME imports from a small number of foreign sources;
(v) the impact of foreign government subsidies and predatory trade practices on United States semiconductor and SME industry competitiveness;
(vi) the economic or financial impact of artificially suppressed semiconductor and SME prices due to foreign unfair trade practices and state-sponsored overcapacity;
(vii) the potential for export restrictions by foreign nations, including the ability of foreign nations to weaponize their control over semiconductors and SME supply chains;
(viii) the feasibility of increasing domestic semiconductors capacity (in different product types and node sizes) to reduce import reliance, and similarly the feasibility of increasing domestic SME capacity to reduce import reliance;
(ix) the impact of current trade and other policies on domestic semiconductor and SME production and capacity, and whether additional measures, including tariffs or quotas, are necessary to protect national security;
(x) what product types and node sizes could be built only using SME from U.S. companies;
(xi) what SME is manufactured abroad and faces limited competition from U.S.-made products;
(xii) what SME parts or components are only available outside the United States;
(xiii) where the U.S. workforce faces a talent gap in production of semiconductors, SME or SME components; and
(xiv) any other relevant factors.
Material submitted by members of the public that contains business confidential information will be exempted from public disclosure as provided for by §?705.6 of the regulations (see the ADDRESSES section of this notice). Communications from agencies of the United States Government will not be made available for public inspection. The Bureau of Industry and Security does not maintain a separate public inspection facility. Requesters should first view the Bureau's web page, which can be found at: https://efoia.bis.doc.gov/ (see "Electronic FOIA" heading). If requesters cannot access the website, they may call (202) 482-0795 for assistance. The records related to this assessment are made accessible in accordance with the regulations published at 15 CFR 4.1 through 4.11.
Eric Longnecker,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Security.
[FR Doc. 2025-06591 Filed 4-14-25; 4:15 pm]
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