Reuters reported Friday that the United States Government plans to spend $11 billion on Semiconductor research and development. Plus, it will be launching the $5 billion National Semiconductor Technology Center. This follows the congressional approval of the Landmark Chip and Science Act that was approved in August of 2022.
The act provides a hefty 52.7-billion-dollar total. The following is a breakdown of how the funds will be utilized. First, there is $39 billion in subsidies for semiconductor production and then $11 billion in research and development.
The act also creates a 25% investment tax credit for building chip facilities that are predicted to be worth $24 billion. The of this research and development program is the previously mentioned National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) which will be conducting both research and prototyping of advanced semiconductor technology.
The United States Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated the following regarding the facility describing it as a "Public private partnership that the government, industry customers, suppliers, academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists to come together to innovate, connect, network, solve problems and allow Americans to compete and out compete the world" This was said at a recent white house event.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm also shared some words at the event and said this move was part of an "industrial strategy around chips" to prevent the loss of jobs overseas while simultaneously adding American jobs. Granhold continued her statement with "A nation that does not do R&D is a weak nation. We are not going to be weak anymore."
The NSTC will also be establishing an investment fund to support new semiconductor companies' advance toward commercialization. The expansion is a significant development as HNGN has recently reported on how many Silicon Valley employees native to China have been coming to the nation to work but then in the following years, they leave the companies to develop technology eerily similar to the technology they were working on in the United States.
The act has also resulted in the development of the National Advance Packaging Manufacturing and new Manufacturing United States-based institutes specializing in semiconductors. Raimondo has also discussed with Reuters that Commerce plans to develop major awards to fund chip developments within two months stating that "We're in the process of really complicated, challenging negotiations with these companies". Although she did not name the companies at the time of writing. However, she did state in the "Next six to eight weeks, you will see several more announcements. That's what we're striving for." The report concludes with a final statement from Raimondo "These are new-generation investments -- size, scale complexity that's never been done before in this country."
