The White House has issued the first-ever Quadrennial Supply Chain Review, a key moment in the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to strengthen economic security and build resilient supply chains.
This comprehensive review highlights the U.S. Government’s efforts to tackle risks, eliminate bottlenecks, and ensure the efficient operation of supply chains that deliver the goods Americans depend on.
“Strengthening supply chains and revitalising America’s position in semiconductor manufacturing has been a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s agenda from the very beginning,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This review underscores our commitment to partnering with industry to proactively address supply chain challenges, develop innovative solutions, mitigate future disruptions, and bring back American manufacturing. By working together, we are bolstering economic and national security and building supply chains that can meet the demands of tomorrow – particularly in critical sectors like information and communications technology and semiconductors.”
In the Review, the Department of Commerce’s Supply Chain Centre shared its first public findings from its new SCALE supply chain risk assessment tool. SCALE significantly upgrades the U.S. Government’s ability to conduct cross-cutting assessments of resilience and vulnerability, employing more than 40 indicators to assess current or prospective risk across the U.S. goods economy. This first-of-its-kind tool is being used to further strengthen Commerce’s ongoing collaboration with industry to drive more granular conversations about supply chain risk, which is particularly important since building resilience in supply chains requires complementary efforts by both the public and private sectors.
Key initial findings shared in the review include:
- Most U.S. goods industries are exposed to structural supply chain risks. Nearly every industry in the economy scores high in at least one indicator of risk
- The U.S. goods economy is interdependent, including dependence on industries and products exposed to high levels of risk. More than 86% of industries are dependent on inputs for other industries that are themselves medium-high or high risk
- S. goods industries have poor import diversification. Many U.S. industries rely heavily on a limited number of countries for key imports. In fact, nearly 38% of U.S. industries are heavily reliant on single country sourced products, with more than half of industries having minimal diversification of source countries for their critical inputs
- The highest-risk industries cut across the U.S. economy, including electronics, chemicals, and transportation. In many cases, vulnerability is driven by high levels of imports from risky countries, including China, or from other highly concentrated sources
The Quadrennial Supply Chain Review also highlighted Commerce’s contributions to strengthening supply chains in specific sectors. In the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and semiconductor sectors, for example, the Department of Commerce is making significant strides building supply chain resilience through landmark legislation and innovative initiatives, including the CHIPS and Science Act, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) program, and the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund.
These efforts are driving transformative investments, addressing critical dependencies, and revitalising industries that are essential to economic and national security. The United States has seen over $450 billion in private investment announced by semiconductor and electronics companies since the beginning of the Biden–Harris Administration, catalysed in large part by public investment. Under President Biden’s leadership, stronger, more secure supply chains are supporting communities across the country, as investments in ICT and semiconductors create good-paying jobs, expand infrastructure, and help ensure America’s leadership in advanced technologies for generations to come.
