Comment by glitchc

Barring niche areas, US companies generally treat ICs as a commodity across vast swaths of commercial/industrial activities. In a sense, it's not very different from apparel, which is almost entirely outsourced. We would be in the same boat with automobile manufacturing were it not for unions. This is not going to change overnight. The costs of outsourcing would have to become prohibitively higher for domestic production to return in any appreciable amount. Until then, we should expect the torch to be carried by private industry (ex. Apple) who have other incentives to safeguard their IC production and supply chain.