Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced that advanced semiconductor companies have applied for over double the available federal funds for projects in the US, through the 2022 Chips Act program aimed at bringing chip manufacturing back to American soil. Leading-edge firms such as Intel Corp., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and Samsung Electronics Co. are collectively seeking over $70 billion from the program, surpassing the allocated $39 billion in grants and $75 billion in loans and loan guarantees. The Commerce Department plans to allocate $28 billion of the $39 billion pool to leading-edge facilities.
Intel is reportedly in negotiations with President Biden’s administration for over $10 billion in incentives through grants and loans, with major awards expected to be announced by the end of March. Additionally, Commerce Secretary Raimondo stated that her department will exceed a minimum spending of $2 billion on older-generation chips, crucial to the global economy, and has already announced awards totaling more than $1.5 billion to companies producing these mature semiconductor models.
Over 600 firms have shown interest in the program, with Raimondo noting the necessity to prioritize smaller grants to smaller applicants alongside multi-billion dollar awards expected for industry giants. The agency also plans to prioritize projects to be completed by 2030, and some preliminary awards have been announced, pending additional due diligence. Raimondo emphasized that although the US chip companies have invested over $200 billion in the US, the disbursal of the funds is contingent on companies meeting negotiated benchmarks over time.
Raimondo stated that the US is on track to produce 20% of the world’s advanced logic chips by the end of the decade and expressed confidence in the funding's sufficiency to achieve that goal. She also acknowledged the potential need for additional funding in the future, referred to as a potential "Chips Two" program.
