Tech Roundup: Brazil’s wants to attract semiconductor producers

This week. Brazil announces more semiconductor incentives. Industry 4.0 still faces obstacles. And how inflation is becoming a problem for streaming services.

💻 Can Brazil attract semiconductor producers?

The Brazilian government is preparing a plan to expand incentives for the domestic semiconductor industry. Daniella Marques, the Economy Ministry’s special secretary for Productivity and Competitiveness, says the government wants to “simplify mechanisms for the entry and exit of materials and components” by reducing red tape and even facilitating remote work, while also granting sweeping tax breaks.

• The incentives program should be launched in June.

Tech hub. Communications Minister Fábio Faria said Brazil has the potential to become a semiconductor hub outside of Asia, which still produces most of the world’s chips. “The whole world follows the disputes around Taiwan, which are important to the global semiconductor industry,” Mr. Faria says. “We’re in a privileged location: close to Africa and Europe, and we’re the biggest country in Latin America.”

• “We had a meeting with South Korea’s Telecommunications Ministry and made a formal request to bring a Samsung semiconductor factory to Brazil,” Mr. Faria said. “In the past, Brazil lost the opportunity to attract Intel, which is now opening a factory in Costa Rica.”

Why it matters. Since the beginning of the pandemic, semiconductor shortages have plagued multiple industries and disrupted supply chains. Since late 2021, demand-supply gaps have been shrinking, but many uncertainties loom.

Yes, but … The government has liquidated Ceitec, the only company in Latin America with the know-how and infrastructure to manufacture semiconductors and produce silicon chips from scratch, in the midst of a largely criticized privatization process.

Reasoning. Mr. Faria said Ceitec simply cannot...