Biden signs a bill to increase U.S. chip manufacturing

Biden signs a bill to increase U.S. chip manufacturing. 

Tuesday saw the historic signing by President Joe Biden of a measure providing $52.7 billion in subsidies for American semiconductor research and manufacturing and stepping up efforts to make the United States more competitive with China’s scientific and technology initiatives.

The move represents “a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself,” according to Biden, who added that “the future is going to be produced in America.”

Even though it’s unclear when the U.S. Commerce Department will establish regulations for evaluating grant applications and how long it will take to fund projects, Biden praised chip makers’ contributions.

To witness the signing of the long-awaited chips bill in Congress, several Republicans joined Biden on the grounds of the White House.

Along with the governors of Pennsylvania and Illinois, the mayors of Detroit, Cleveland, and Salt Lake City, as well as politicians, the signing was attended by the chief executives of Micron, Intel, Lockheed Martin, HP, and Advanced Micro Devices.

According to the White House, fresh semiconductor investments were encouraged by the bill’s passing. For example, it said that Qualcomm’s commitment to purchasing semiconductor chips totaled $7.4 billion from GlobalFoundries’ New York facility as of Monday, increasing its entire commitment to that point.

The U.S. market share would increase from 2% to 10% thanks to Micron’s $40 billion investment in memory chip production, which the White House said was planned with “expected awards” from the Chips Bill.

Biden said on Tuesday that “this legislation is not throwing out blank checks to businesses.” Instead, progressives said that the measure is a gift to lucrative semiconductor giants that had previously abandoned U.S. factories.