Reports suggest that awards made under the CHIPS and Science Act could be withdrawn as the administration seems to consider them to have been “overly generous” and that consequently it is looking to renegotiate them.
According to the administration its successful renegotiation with TSMC should be seen as a benchmark. It saw the chipmaker increase its original pledge of $65 billion in US investments to $165 billion.
The CHIPS Act allocated $52.7 billion to strengthen semiconductor manufacturing and research in the US and is set to provide billions in funding to major chipmakers, including TSMC, Samsung, SK hynix, Intel and Micron, among others.
Distribution of those funds has just begun, and the money is expected to be released only as companies advance their pledged expansions.
President Trump has gone so far as to call for the repeal of the CHIPS Act which has raised concerns over several proposed investments. Samsung Electronics has pledged to build two advanced chip fabs in Taylor, Texas, for example, with the support of $4.74 billion in direct funding from the US administration.
However, its seems that abolition of the CHIPS Act is now less likely as the administration has shifted its focus to renegotiating existing grants and streamlining the process.
The setting up of the United States Investment Accelerator, to oversee the CHIPS Act program, shows perhaps that the administration is now keener to work with the existing program rather than ending it.
