Good morning, Rundown reader.

We talked almost exclusively last week about the global chip shortage.

And so a contributor adds: “Prior to the popping of the semiconductor bubble earlier this century, there must have been 20 different chip fabs in and around Colorado Springs. Including a great big HP fab that was under construction. Atmel was even here [before it was acquired by Microchip Technology in 2016].

“Today there are a bunch of underutilized or closed buildings with all the essential infrastructure and clean facilities to simply upgrade the chip printers and flip on the switches.

“Why aren’t major corporations in need of chips not buying and restarting these fabs?”

From what we could find, one such Colorado Springs fab called CAES is ramping up production to capitalize on chip scarcity.

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Your Rundown for Monday, November 15, 2021...

U.S. Military’s $2-Billion Chip Order

CAES Chief Technology Office Dave Young says: "We are expecting more work as (the) Colorado Springs (plant) will be the design agent to help bring new products to market.

“We expect to grow over time and our space division, which is based in Colorado Springs will be a big part of that.”

Photo courtesy: CAES

The company’s number-one customer? The U.S. military.

Last week, an article at Bloomberg said: “The Pentagon plans to place as much as $2 billion in rush orders by early March for customized semiconductors.”

It’s unclear whether CAES will receive any of that funding, but the U.S. defense industry is recognizing how critical it is to get American chipmakers online.

Then there’s Colorado Springs-based engineering consultancy Taeus that works on reverse engineering semiconductors “to defend patents, spur innovation, and trace product failures,” says an article at IEEE’s trade publication Spectrum. With a dash of espionage…

So, that’s a taste of what’s happening in Colorado Springs. Similar American industry is happening across the country.

We’ll be back Wednesday…

Market Rundown for Monday, Nov. 15, 2021

S&P 500 futures are up 0.40% to 4,695.

Oil’s down more than 1% to $79.89 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold is down $1.70 per ounce to $1,866.70.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is up 2% to $65,515.

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We hope your week is off to a promising start. Take care…

For The Rundown,

Aaron Gentzler
Editor, The Rundown
TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com