Donald Trump has criticized on many occasions The Chips Law approved in July 2022 by the government of Joe Biden. At the end of last January and just a week after returning to the White House, the US president He made this statement: “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 Biden program. They already have billions of dollars. “
“The ridiculous Biden program.” It is evident that Donald Trump doesn’t like Chips law at all. 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.” At that time the possibility that Donald Trump dismantled the Chips program if he arrived at the government was on the table, which caused semiconductor manufacturers They were hurry to collect subsidies Before his return.
The partial dismantling of the Chips Law is on the table
Presumably Intel, TSMC, Globalfoundries and other designers and manufacturers of integrated circuits have already charged the subsidies of the Chips program assigned to them during the mandate of Joe Biden. Or part of these funds. 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, According to Reutersthe government is considering reallocating at least 2,000 million dollars.
China is restricting the export of many of these minerals in response to US sanctions and their allies
If this measure thrives those funds initially reserved for semiconductor research and the construction of chips factories will be used to finance projects dedicated to obtaining and the processing of critical minerals. At the moment China controls extraction, processing and the distribution chain of a good part of this crucial strategic resource for many industries, such as integrated circuits, telecommunications, batteries or the electric car, among others. And the country led by Xi Jinping is restricting export of many of these minerals in response to the US sanctions and their allies.
The US needs to drastically reduce its dependence on critical minerals controlled by China, and the decisions that Donald Trump has made during recent months reflect clearly that he is much more worried about reinforce the American land industry to deliver subsidies to chips manufacturers. However, the reallocation of these 2,000 million dollars will have an additional effect, if it thrives, it is worth not overlooking: Howard Lutnick will expand its influence to the critical mineral sector. And this manager has the total confidence of Donald Trump.
Image | TSMC | Gage Skidmore
More information | Reuters
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