Bill Would Dramatically Increase Federal Support for American Semiconductor Innovation
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, joined his colleagues U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) in introducing the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act.
The CHIPS for America Act would restore semiconductor manufacturing back to American soil by increasing federal incentives to stimulate advanced chip manufacturing, enable cutting-edge research and development, secure the supply chain and bring greater transparency to the microelectronics ecosystem, create American jobs, and ensure long-term national security. U.S. Representative Doris Matsui (CA-6) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (TX-10) will introduce this legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives today.
“As building blocks of modern technology, semiconductors have played a key role in improving the lives of people all across the world,” said Sen. Risch. “Idaho, in particular, has seen the incredibly positive direct and indirect impacts that the industry has on this country. While the U.S. has been a leader in the design of these critically important chips, production is predominantly done overseas. We must do all that we can to counter Chinese Communist Party efforts to control the semiconductor supply chain, and work to help our own semiconductor industry grow.”
“Semiconductors underpin nearly all innovation today and are critical to U.S. communications and defense computing capabilities. While Texas has been a leader in manufacturing this technology and the U.S. leads the world in chip design, most of those chips are manufactured outside the United States,” said Sen. Cornyn. “This legislation would help stimulate advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities domestically, secure the supply chain, and ensure U.S. maintains our lead in design while creating jobs, lowering our reliance on other countries for advanced chip fabrication, and strengthening national security.”
“America’s innovation in semiconductors undergirds our entire innovation economy, driving the advances we see in autonomous vehicles, supercomputing, augmented reality, IoT devices and more. Unfortunately, our complacency has allowed our competitors – including adversaries – to catch up. This bill reinvests in this national priority, providing targeted tax incentives for advanced manufacturing in the US, funding basic research in microelectronics, and emphasizing the need for multilateral engagement with our allies in bringing greater transparency and attention to security and integrity threats to the global supply chain,” said Sen. Warner.
“As the global economy becomes more interconnected, it is essential that the U.S. maintains the ability to produce the hardware that our high-tech economy depends on. Semiconductors are fundamental components of our phones, medical devices, and the future of quantum computing,” said Rep. Matsui. “In order for the U.S. to stay at the forefront of this strategically important industry, we must ensure that we lead from research and development all the way to the assembly line. The CHIPS for America Act will make needed investments in this essential hardware, allowing our domestic industry to continue to innovate and thrive.”
“Ensuring our leadership in the future design, manufacturing, and assembly of cutting edge semiconductors will be vital to United States national security and economic competitiveness. As the Chinese Communist Party aims to dominate the entire semiconductor supply chain, it is critical that we supercharge our industry here at home. In addition to securing our technological future, the CHIPS Act will create thousands of high-paying U.S. jobs and ensure the next generation of semiconductors are produced in the US, not China,” said Rep. McCaul.
The CHIPS for America Act:
- Creates a 40-percent refundable ITC for qualified semiconductor equipment (placed in service) or any qualified semiconductor manufacturing facility investment expenditures through 2024. The ITC is reduced to 30 percent in 2025, 20 percent in 2026, and phases out in 2027.
- Directs the Secretary of Commerce to create a $10 billion federal match program that matches state and local incentives offered to a company for the purposes of building a semiconductor foundry with advanced manufacturing capabilities.
- Creates a new NIST Semiconductor Program to support advanced manufacturing in America. The program’s funds will also support STEM workforce development, ecosystem clustering, U.S. 5G leadership, and advanced assembly and test.
- Authorizes funding for DOD to execute research, development, workforce training, test, and evaluation for programs, projects, and activities in connection with semiconductor technologies and direct the implementation of a plan to utilize Defense Production Act Title III funding to establish and enhance a domestic semiconductor production capability.
- Requires the Secretary of Commerce to complete a report within 90 days to assess the capabilities of the U.S. industrial base to support the national defense in light of the global nature of the supply chain and significant interdependencies between the U.S. industrial base and that of foreign countries as it relates to microelectronics.
- Establishes a trust fund in the amount of $750M over ten years to be allocated upon reaching an agreement with foreign government partners to participate in a consortium in order to promote consistency in policies related to microelectronics, greater transparency in microelectronic supply chains, and greater alignment in policies towards non-market economies. To incentivize multilateral participation, a common funding mechanism is established to use this fund to support the development of secure microelectronics and secure microelectronics supply chains. A report to Congress is required for each year funding is available.
- Directs the President to establish, through the National Science and Technology Council, a Subcommittee on Semiconductor Leadership responsible for the development of a national semiconductor research strategy to ensure U.S. leadership in semiconductor technology and innovation, which is critical to American economic growth and national security, and to coordinate semiconductor research and development.
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Creates new R&D streams to ensure U.S. leadership in semiconductor technology and innovation is critical to American economic growth and national security:
- $2 billion to implement the Electronics Resurgence Initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
- $3 billion to implement semiconductor basic research programs at the National Science Foundation.
- $2 billion to implement semiconductor basic research programs at the Department of Energy.
- $5 billion to establish an Advanced Packaging National Manufacturing Institute under the Department of Commerce to establish U.S. leadership in advanced microelectronic packaging and, in coordination with the private sector, to promote standards development, foster private-public partnerships, create R&D programs to advance technology, create an investment fund ($500M) to support domestic advanced microelectronic packaging ecosystem, and work with the Secretary of Labor on establishing workforce training programs and apprenticeships in advanced microelectronic packaging capabilities.
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