U.S. President Joe Biden’s $52 billion bid to transform the domestic chip industry — one of the most ambitious pieces of U.S. industrial policy since World War II — is about to enter a pivotal stage: life under a new administration.
The Biden staffers overseeing implementation of the bipartisan 2022 Chips and Science Act are wrapping up work this week and preparing to hand over duties when Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. They had the task of allocating $39 billion in grant funding — along with loans and tax breaks — to usher in a chip-factory building boom. That’s on top of separate money for research and development and international semiconductor programs.
Most of the grant funding has been awarded, and the initiative has spurred more than $400 billion in planned company investments. But much of the job remains unfinished — and broader upheaval in the chip industry will only add to the challenges. Two of the program’s biggest participants, Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., are mired in slumps. And getting many of the new factories up and running will take years.
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