Biden signs $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act

President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act on Tuesday, writing  into law the $280 billion package that includes $52 billion in funding  to boost US domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

“Today is a day for builders. Today, America’s delivering,” Biden said during the White House signing ceremony on Tuesday.

“The CHIPS and Science Act is a once in a generation investment in America itself.”

The bipartisan deal to revive American innovation in opposition to  growing Chinese technological dominance comes amid an ongoing global  semiconductor shortage.

The shortage has become an incentive for manufacturers like Intel to  invest in new plants to meet the growing demand for tech products like  laptops and smartphones worldwide.

But US officials fear that, without government intervention, chip manufacturers will continue to offshore new foundries to Chinaleaving little room for the US to profit off of an industry it pioneered decades ago.

Those fears were nearly actualized after Intel approached the US  Department of Commerce with a proposal to take over an abandoned factory  in China sometime this year, according to a recent report from The New York Times.

The Times confirmed that Intel suspended the plan, but company  conversations with the administration pressured lawmakers to act on the  chips investment bill ahead of their August recess.

Late last month, the House and Senate approved the CHIPS and Science Act after nearly two years of negotiations and political infighting.

Among its investments in American scientific research, it includes $52  billion in subsidies to encourage chip manufacturers to build out  semiconductor fabrication plants, or “fabs,” in the US.