Congress finally passes $52b subsidies for chip fabs on US soil
- Reference: 1659047167
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/07/28/house_chips_act_passes/
- Source link:
The massive spending bill received overwhelming support in the House, passing in a 243-to-187 [1]vote that saw 24 Republicans break rank to join Democrat Party members in backing the funding. The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law without delay.
The CHIPS and Science Act, which [2]received Senate approval only yesterday, represents the final evolution of a year-long effort to boost US chip production amid the worst semiconductor shortage in recent history and growing concern over the country’s reliance on Asia-Pacific foundries.
[3]
Roughly $52 billion of the spending bill
[4]PDF
— known as the CHIPS Act fund — is directed toward the construction of semiconductor manufacturing facilities on US soil. What’s more, among other things, the bill includes provisions for an additional $24 billion in tax credits for companies engaged in domestic chip production.[5]
[6]
Many of these facilities are already under construction. Intel, America's largest home-grown chipmaker and foundry operator, has committed to building at least $40 billion in new foundry capacity. It broke ground on a pair of [7]Arizona fabs late last year, and recently [8]held up the groundbreaking ceremony of its upcoming Ohio [9]mega-fab over continued delays to the CHIPS Act’s passage.
"I congratulate Congress on voting to approve funding for the CHIPS Act," said Pat Gelsinger, the x86 giant's CEO, in a canned statement today.
[10]
"This is a critical step to support the entire US semiconductor industry and to help ensure continued American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and R&D. Congress has done its part, and now we are going to do ours. I'm excited to put shovels in the ground as Intel moves full speed ahead to start building in Ohio."
While Intel hopes to snag a sizable chunk of the $52 billion cash pot, it isn’t without competition for the dosh, which Gelsinger at least alluded to. Over the past few years Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, better known as TSMC, and Samsung have expanded their US presence, with fabs in [11]Arizona and [12]Texas already under construction.
What’s more, Samsung is said to be planning a massive $200 billion foundry project in the Austin, Texas area that would see 11 fabs constructed over the next two decades.
[13]Datacenter operator groups pledge to cut water consumption
[14]Meta pours cash into servers and AI as ad revenue falls
[15]Congress continues playing hot potato with $52b CHIPS Act subsidies
[16]US warns losing access to Taiwanese chips could break the economy
However, as The Register has [17]previously reported , building new fabs is neither a cheap or speedy prospect. These facilities can cost anywhere from $10-$15 billion a piece and take 3-5 years to bring online if using leading-edge nodes (taking a copy-exact manufacturing approach should be faster). And it's not uncommon for facilities tasked with producing leading-edge processes to need additional time to work out the kinks in assembly.
While a victory for President Biden, who has been a staunch proponent of the bill, he’s unlikely to see the first fabs funded by the bill come online until after the 2024 election.
[18]
On top of the chips subsidies and tax credits, the bill also includes approximately $170 billion in funding for US scientific research over the next five years. These funds are aimed squarely at closing the gap with China in both the scientific and technological arenas. The creation of regional technology hubs supporting the development and growth of startups is also enabled by the legislation.
China’s technological and scientific advancements in the face of stiff sanctions and trade restrictions was an oft-cited justification for the bill.
Despite efforts to deny Chinese state-backed chipmakers access to infrastructure and the intellectual property required to produce leading-edge semiconductors, recent [19]reports indicate SMIC — the Middle Kingdom's largest foundry — had recently obtained the means to produce 7nm node parts. This puts the country some generations ahead than previously thought.
The bill’s passage comes as the US attempts to [20]deescalate Chinese aggression towards Taiwan, which remains the primary source of leading-edge silicon for American processor designers, including, AMD, Nvidia, Apple, and Qualcomm.
Last week US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo [21]warned that losing access to Taiwan’s fabs would send the US into a “deep and immediate recession.” Hence the need for more factories on Uncle Sam's home turf. ®
Get our [22]Tech Resources
[1] https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2022404
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/27/senate_chips_act/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YuNbdAPoKE4YvrXUmpyk@AAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/CFC99CC6-CE84-4B1A-8BBF-8D2E84BD7965
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YuNbdAPoKE4YvrXUmpyk@AAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YuNbdAPoKE4YvrXUmpyk@AAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/24/intel_gelsinger_strategy/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/23/intel_ohio_fab_groundbreaking/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/intel_us20bn_ohio/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YuNbdAPoKE4YvrXUmpyk@AAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/04/tsmc_arizona_fabs/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/24/samsung_picks_taylor_texas_for_fab/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/climate_neutral_datacenter_pact/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/meta_pours_cash_into_servers/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/27/senate_chips_act/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/21/us_taiwan_chips_china/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/27/senate_chips_act/
[18] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YuNbdAPoKE4YvrXUmpyk@AAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/22/china_smic_7nm_chips/
[20] https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-looks-tamp-down-taiwan-tension-during-china-xi-call-2022-07-28/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/21/us_taiwan_chips_china/
[22] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: SOP
Not this old saw. Murcia gave China its businesses. Let's fill the China Sea with your tearrs. Businesses go to large markets to make profits.
In China, businesses found a tremendous workforce of highly intelligent people with a work ethic second to none and they moved form the USA, from IRS, OSHA, EPA, FTC, DOE, and dozens of other bureaucratic red tape machines. Investment into the USA since trump has gone NIL. Nobody wants any part of you and neither do businesses that moved from the US to China. In spite of all your xenophobic screaming NOT ONE US FIRM has left China. In fact, they are expanding further into ASIA.
And when you say Red Scare... that is part of your lexicon. You got wasted in Vietnam and learned nothing about Asians. That was called VIETNAMIZATION murican style. The great domino theory. Well, at present 80% of shoes worn in the USA are now made in Vietnam. Your feet are being comforted by the ENEMY. You should "show them commies" by going barefooted. The anti-Commy rhetoric has been with the USA since the 1930's.
China's vision of communism is a form of Capitalism. They now have more wealth than the USA, more billionaires and more millionaires. And with the sudden paranoia brought by TRUMP, the idea of division of labor was treated as a weakness and dependency. So the idiots embarked on a plan to decouple from China which means ASIA in case you haven't figured it out. Oh but but but the Japanese love us. Do they really?
Wth 52 Billion Gov dollars you are not back in business... and will build smartphones and big screen TVs and lead the world in CHIPS... Yet projections say the Semiconductor business in the US will continue to decay 3% a year. Oh but but but that's before the US decided they were battery dependent and solar panels dependent... So now the US will lead the way with plenty of smiling uneducated dummies to do factory work like FAB... To the backdrop of what?
The US employee leads the world in employee theft, absenteeism, workers comp, workplace violence, UNIONs, and lawsuits against employers and managers. I haven't even touched meeToo or the myriad of bathroom issues in Murica, nor diversity engineering nor diversity hires.
BTW, where are all those Obama battery factories? Gee, billions spent and no plants built and not one battery made... Oh but the talk sold lots of railroad stock to the suckers.
Meanwhile, China has been working. They are now the largest manufacturers of autos, EVs, batteries, solar cells, hand and electric tools, farm machinery, pharmaceutical, feeds, steel, and computers . The largest food producerand the largest exporters and importers in the history of the world.. Oh but you taught them all that? The grand US trades with 206 countries and has a trade deficit with every one of them. I guess you are better teachers than students.
Will you be exporting your new homegrown chips? Asia won't buy them. Who will buy them? Asia doesn't want their chip purchases for manufacturing to be blocked because some blowhard politician doesn't like them for some political reason. Even Samsung makes their own phone chips now to protect themselves. The US and its nancy Kerrigan kneecapping strategy of competition.
Well my friend, your excuses are over. the BIPARTISAN CONGRESS, with less brains than a dozen clams, has now reached the solution to kneecap China and become the world leader in tech, chip Fab, and dare I mention the same arguments used with the very grand Supercollider, another TEXAS exploding cigar money throwing fiasco.
Your comments are from a person [Is that the right pronoun?] that has never been to China or the other Asian satellites. China is a place where they can erect a 50-story skyscraper in a month. And no... they did not steal your UNION WORKER IP to do that!
America's cleaver centrocentric arguments that they built the world and everyone stole from you. Trump made that claim and he's a self-proclaimed stable genius. He said Vietnam was stealing from you. Meanwhile, Tiny doll hands was making ken doll fists threatening the very country that inspired his heel spurs to flare to the point of draft dodging.
The US is a dying culture. It has become nothing but a blame thrower, a poor sport and you fold with competition. Don't think your xenophobic murican rhetoric is not getting through to Asia. Antagonizing and bulling Asians is a very stupid idea. Try to learn from Vietnam.
“You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” Ho Chi Minh in a warning to French colonialists in 1946.
I have softened that a bit...
"You can threaten bully and demean, but in the end, you will be wearing Shoes, shirts, pants, socks and underwear made in ASIA."
China is not going away. Mark my words, the kid you bully today will grow to be a Notre Dame Defensive Tackle then one day your doorbell will ring and a giant on the porch will want to have a chat with you.
US Politicians write the check that DEFEATS CHINA TECHNOLOGY, WAIT There's more!
And as one liberal put it, Electric cars will be $4000 cheaper than yesterday! Free stuff. Free buybacks for INTEL... Mr Pelosi's 5 million in chip stock options soared today, Almost like he had insider information... But didn't Martha Stewart do jail for less... THAT"s DIFFERENT... she's a Woman! Oh that's right...
Democrats and Angry Trumpers led the charge to DEFEAT CHINER.... The fact that males in the USA now occupy just 38% of all seats in the University and women hold 62% is a brave new world. And women are not going into the sciences and engineering degrees. This is not a new trend, it is a long trend with the uneducated gaining numbers. Only 10% of Ameicans have advanced degrees and 35% have four year degrees. Ony 2.4% of Chnese have advanced degrees and 18% have four year degrees. But if you compare the populations of China and the US, China is now leading. And then you have the grand political movement in the USA that thinks advanced degrees are useless.
Then you might ask what about these FIVE regional SCIENCE AND TECH CENTERS.... Who will control them? You probably don't want to know but rest assured it won't be the top students at MIT ar Caltech since most of them are ASIAN and are the greatest victims of reverse discrimination. Brave new world.
Politicians lighting the way to the abyss.
Incredible Timing!
Amazing political work getting this passed just before the horrible Q2 report came out.
Now we know we're tossing inflationary money after bad ("Optane Inventory Impairment").
Let the buybacks continue?
SOP
Its a very clever business model really. Send manufacturing overseas to countries with cheap labour and reap huge profits, then manufacture a red scare against the very country you outscourced your manufacturing to so that taxpayers stump up the costs of bringing it back.
We were told in the 1990's that the quickest way to turn a dictatorship like China into a progressive democracy was to open up trade with them and show them how much better off they would be under a system like ours, but apparently we've given up on that now.