April 09, 2024

$6.6 billion TSMC deal in Arizona the latest in the CHIPS Act’s rollout

By: Vivek Chilukuri

“President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act just about 20 months ago, which in government time is yesterday. And they’ve hired 200 people,” said Vivek Chilukuri, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “These people who are like material engineers and software designers, and you need the nerds also, frankly, along with the business people, and then you need the national security people on top of that.”

But now that the funding is being distributed, the Commerce Department says the U.S. is on track to produce about 20% of the world’s most advanced chips by 2030. That’s something that would be impossible without the CHIPS funding, according to Zach Butterworth, who formerly worked as Biden’s White House director of private sector engagement.

“It’s an industry we lost in the ’90s,” he said. “And without government intervention, it would not be coming back at this scale.”

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