Brazil's state-owned Ceitec was established with the ambition to be Latin America's first chip manufacturer but has not succeeded in producing any chips.
The state-owned Ceitec was established in 2008 as part of Brazil's ambition to become the first Latin American country to manufacture chips. Targeting the production of semiconductor technology, it was equipped to create chips with a 350-nanometer process, suitable for applications in automobiles, electronics, and sensors, but far from the cutting-edge three-nanometer chips produced in Taiwan for AI. Despite these aspirations, Ceitec has failed to actually manufacture chips; instead, it focused on designing equipment and outsourcing the manufacturing process to foreign foundries, ultimately importing the assembled products back to Brazil.
Currently, Brazil has managed to master only two of the three critical stages of semiconductor production. While it excels in the design phase, which involves creating chip layouts, it lacks the necessary infrastructure to handle the fabrication and packaging processes domestically. This reliance on foreign foundries not only fails to bolster Brazil's position in the growing semiconductor market but also exposes it to the geopolitical tensions impacting the supply chain, notably between the U.S. and China over advanced technologies.
The implications of Ceitec's struggles extend beyond mere production capabilities. As global demand for semiconductors skyrockets, Brazil's inability to establish a fully integrated semiconductor manufacturing industry puts its technological advancement and economic competitiveness at risk. With the U.S. and China in a fierce battle over technology supremacy, Brazil's chip manufacturing ambitions remain unfulfilled, suggesting a critical need for structured government support and investment in this vital industry to avoid being left behind in the tech race.
