Fund Chips Act, Officials Tell Senate Commerce
Information Technology Industry Council General Counsel John Miller and other witnesses’ written testimony for a Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing urged lawmakers to fully fund the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act and take other actions to…
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improve U.S. supply chains. The Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) includes $52 billion to fund the Chips for America Act and other chipmaking initiatives, but its House prospects are unclear (see 2106150078). That money would “boost U.S. investments in the semiconductor ecosystem -- including promoting a strong, skilled workforce for advanced manufacturing, strengthening the semiconductor supply chain, and increasing U.S. manufacturing capacity -- all of which are essential for U.S. economic and national security,” Miller said. Congress demonstrated “a will to address both short and long-term supply chain manufacturing issues through investment,” said IBM Research Director Dario Gil. Center for Strategic and International Studies Strategic Technologies Program Director James Lewis sought a “larger effort to build resiliency and security by strengthening all segments of the U.S. chip industry, through investments in R&D, workforce, and subsidies, including support for other parts of the semiconductor supply chain, such as advanced packaging.” The “supply chain is a disaster,” said The Taylor Group CEO Lex Taylor. “Some of that is due to the shortage of generic, programmable, or hard-coded microchips. Our products, like so many others, operate via some form of computer interface, so the chip shortage is extremely concerning.”