Hopefully CHIPS Act money will be awarded soon to prevent Donald Trump and a Republican held congress from clawing back or denying chip companies the money that’s been awarded to them. It should be pointed out right off the bat that this would not be necessary if the Biden Administration had not moved so dang slowly.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is on an urgent mission: get as much high-tech spending out the door before Donald Trump takes office.
The Biden administration is aiming to commit nearly every unspent dollar in its $50 billion microchip-subsidy program before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January, an effort that would effectively cement a massive industrial legacy before the GOP can reverse course.
“I’d like to have really almost all of the money obligated by the time we leave,” Raimondo said in an interview with POLITICO. “That’s the goal, and I certainly want to have all the major announcements done as it relates to the big, leading-edge companies.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/20/raimondo-commerce-trump-legacy-00190538
Okay then. Just like that we’re back to the subject of tech nationalism.
While the CHIPS Act does have bipartisan support and supposedly Donald Trump is lukewarm on it, it is a very real possibility that the Republican held congress will suddenly change course and poof… the CHIPS Act money is gone. One can only pray that they recognize that this is a national security concern and not a partisan issue. It is not a budget issue. It is not a bureaucracy issue. It is an issue of technological nationalism.
China is moving towards a self contained semiconductor ecosystem and we need to as well. We cannot be dependent on a country that gives their citizens a god dang rating on how good of a person they are to the Chinese Communist Party. China accounts for something like 40% of all electronics imports into the United States. That can’t continue, it’s a grave risk to the American way of life. As I’ve said we absolutely need an Electronics Act as well as a CHIPS Act II.
It would be insanity to cut the CHIPS Act but we do live in insane times. Hopefully the Biden Administration finishes everything up instead of being you know… ridiculously slow.