In December last year, U.S. Commerce Secretary announced plans to make a dozen funding awards for semiconductor chips within the next year, including multi-billion dollar announcements.
The Biden administration is expected to allocate billions of dollars in subsidies to major semiconductor companies, including Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co , to support the construction of new factories in the United States. These subsidy announcements are expected to be announced before President Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7.
Intel, with projects in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon totaling over $43.5 billion, and TSMC, which has two plants under construction near Phoenix with a total investment of $40 billion, are among the likely recipients of these subsidies. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, with a $17.3 billion project in Texas, is also a strong contender.
Other top contenders for these subsidies include Micron Technology, Texas Instruments, and GlobalFoundries, as cited by the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. Department of Commerce stated that the CHIPS awards will be a merit-based process, focusing on projects that will advance U.S. economic and national security.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, in December last year, announced plans to make around a dozen funding awards for semiconductor chips within the next year, including multi-billion dollar announcements. The first of these awards, over $35 million, was granted to a BAE Systems facility in Hampshire for the production of chips for fighter planes, as part of the $39 billion Chips for America subsidy program approved by the U.S. Congress in 2022.
This move is part of an effort to boost the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors used in smartphones, artificial intelligence, and weapons systems.