Donald Trump is fulfilling what he anticipated both during the electoral campaign and after returning to the White House. The Chips Law Approved in July 2022 By the government of Joe Biden He has never liked him. Has made it very clear in statements such as this last January:
“In the very close future we will impose tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products to return the manufacture of these essential goods to the US (…) went to Taiwan; now we want them to return. We do not want to give them billions of dollars in the ridiculous driver program. They already have billions of dollars.”
Three months before, in October 2024, I had already charged ferocity against this program of the previous administration In Joe Rogan’s podcast: “We put millions of dollars on the table so that rich companies came, they borrow the money and build chip companies here. And they will not give us the best companies.”
The Department of Commerce has seized 7,400 million destined for chips
During the electoral campaign the possibility that Donald Trump dismantled the Chips program if he arrived at the government was on the table. A priori the money that has already been delivered will not be returned to the administration, but a part of the funds remains in the hands of the Department of Commerce, which is currently led by Howard Lutnick. And the dismantling has already begun.
As we explained last Friday, the US government plans Reassign at least 2,000 million dollars coming from the heading for research and manufacturing integrated circuits within the Chips Law. If this measure thrives these funds will be used to finance projects dedicated to obtaining and the processing of critical minerals. At the moment China controls extractionthe processing and distribution chain of a good part of this crucial strategic resource for many industries, such as integrated circuits, telecommunications, batteries or electric car, among others.
The government plans to reallow at least 2,000 million from the game for the investigation and manufacture of chips
However, this is not all. And it is that the US Department of Commerce has seized a fund of 7.4 billion dollars that was managed by the National Center for the advance of semiconductor technology (Natcast), which is a private non -profit organization. This money comes from the Chips program and was intended for the research and development of new technologies for semiconductors.
The Department of Commerce has justified this seizure arguing that the creation of Natcast by the Biden Administration was an attempt to “avoid clear legal restrictions that They prohibit government agencies to create corporations“In addition, Secretary Lutnick has declared that this organization was “a bribe fund that did nothing but fill the pockets of loyal to Biden with dollars from US taxpayers.” A priori we might think that this measure only affects the US, but nothing is further from reality. Its impact will be received by the global semiconductor industry.
American research has made fundamental contributions to the global integrated circuit industry, so the cut of funds for this item in the Chips Law will be a perceptible effect in this sector. As a button shows: the extreme ultraviolet radiation source (UVE) that they use ASML photolithography equipment It was developed by Cymer in the US.
If we stick to Natcast’s role in the current semiconductor research, it is important that we do not overlook that this organization is involved in the construction of the extreme ultraviolet light accelerator (UVE) of Albany (New York). And also in the tuning of an Chips Research and Development Center in Tempe (Arizona). The Commerce Department has not yet confirmed What will you do with the 7.4 billion dollars That he has seized, so the future of New York and Arizona research facilities is uncertain.
More information | Reuters | Tom’s hardware
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