Biden Signs $280 Billion Semiconductor Bill

President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act on Aug. 9, allocating a $280 billion funding package toward boosting domestic semiconductor manufacturing and various research endeavors.

“The CHIPS and Science Act will boost American semiconductor research, development, and production, ensuring U.S. leadership in the technology that forms the foundation of everything from automobiles to household appliances to defense systems,” said a White House fact sheet on the law.

“The law will also ensure the United States maintains and advances its scientific and technological edge.”

The administration maintains that the mammoth spending package would improve jobs and national security by making the United States less dependent on foreign supply chains and building a more robust workforce.

Semiconductors are used in many technologies, ranging from cars to hypersonic missiles. The funding package was also widely hailed as a means of improving the nation’s competitiveness with an increasingly hostile communist China.

CHIPS and Science Act

“Today, I sign into law the CHIPS and Science Act,” Biden said in a tweet. “It’s a once-in-a-generation law that invests in America by supercharging our efforts to make semiconductors here at home.”

“Today represents a more secure economy, jobs, and a stronger future for our nation. America is delivering.”

About $52 billion will be spent on manufacturing and related expenses. Much of the remainder of the funds will go toward tax breaks for major tech corporations, green energy initiatives, and research grants for the administration’s various social equity projects.

Notably, the law will grant billions toward investments in “disadvantaged communities” to ensure that semiconductor manufacturers “support equitable economic growth and development.”

Specifically, the White House said that the law will devote substantial funding to conducting research at historically black colleges and also to combating “gender-based harassment in the sciences.”

Critics from both sides of the aisle have