SIA Commends Senate Passage of CHIPS Act, Urges House Approval

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The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released the following statement from President and CEO John Neuffer commending bipartisan Senate passage of the CHIPS Act of 2022 (H.R. 4346), legislation that would provide $52 billion for semiconductor manufacturing incentives and research investments, as well as an investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing.

“Senate passage of the CHIPS Act marks decisive progress toward strengthening America’s economy, national security, and leadership in the key technologies of today and tomorrow. We greatly appreciate the bill’s Senate champions for advancing it, commend today’s strong bipartisan vote, and urge the House of Representatives to swiftly follow suit and send the CHIPS Act to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. The stakes are high, and the time to act is now.”

The CHIPS Act of 2022 has a total cost of $79.344 billion over 10 years, according to the official scorekeeper for Congress, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). These investments will create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, spur hundreds of billions of dollars in chip company investments in the U.S., and ensure more resilient chip supply chains for key manufacturing industries in the U.S. and for the national security community. 

The share of modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity located in the U.S. has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% today. This decline is largely due to substantial manufacturing incentives offered by the governments of our global competitors, placing the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage in attracting new construction of semiconductor manufacturing facilities, or “fabs.” Additionally, federal investment in semiconductor research has been flat as a share of GDP, while other governments have invested substantially in research initiatives to strengthen their own semiconductor capabilities, and existing U.S. tax incentives for R&D lag those of other countries.