The CHIPS and Science Act aims to help the US better compete with China.
President Joe Biden this week signed a landmark bill to provide $52.7 billion in subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production and research, according to reporting in Reuters. The bill is supposed to boost efforts to make the United States more competitive with China’s science and technology efforts.
“The future is going to be made in America”, Biden said, calling the measure “a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself”.
Biden touted investments that chip companies are making even though it remains unclear when the US Commerce Department will write rules for reviewing grant awards and how long it will take to underwrite projects. Some Republicans joined Biden on the White House lawn to attend the signing of the chips bill that was years in the making in Congress.
CHIPS and Science Act
The chief executives of Micron, Intel, Lockheed Martin, HP and Advanced Micro Devices attended the signing, as did governors of Pennsylvania and Illinois, the mayors of Detroit, Cleveland and Salt Lake City, and lawmakers.
The White House said the bill’s passage spurs new chip investments. It noted that Qualcomm on Monday agreed to buy an additional $4.2 billion in semiconductor chips from GlobalFoundries’ New York factory, bringing its total commitment to $7.4 billion in purchases through 2028.
The White House also touted Micron announcing a $40 billion investment in memory chip manufacturing, which would boost US market share from 2 percent to 10 percent, an investment it said was planned with “anticipated grants” from the chips bill.
Progressives argued the bill is a giveaway to profitable chips companies that previously closed US plants, but Biden said on Tuesday that “this law is not handing out blank checks to companies.”
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