US Senate Passes Bill Giving Billions in Subsidies to Chip Manufacturing – Computers – News

The US Senate has passed a bill to subsidize the chip industry. The law would release tens of thousands in subsidies and tax breaks to build new chip factories in the United States.

The Senate passed the Chips and Science bill this week by a vote of 64 to 33. Reuters news agency writes. Under the bill, $52.7 billion will be released in subsidies to the chip industry, equivalent to 51.7 billion euros. The bill also releases up to 23.5 billion euros in tax incentives for the construction of new chip factories. Companies that manufacture chips in the US, such as GlobalFoundries, Intel, Micron, Samsung and TSMC, can apply for funding. As part of the bill, the United States would allocate more than $170 billion over the next five years to fund scientific research.

The bill is intended to strengthen the US chip industry. The US is doing this partly to alleviate global geopolitical tensions and future chip shortages. The country has several major chip designers such as AMD, Apple and Nvidia, but in terms of chip manufacturing, the US currently has a relatively low market share. Several companies have already started building new chip factories in the US, including Intel, Samsung And DSMC.

This CHIP Act has been in the works for over a year. Another version passed the Senate in June last year, but failed in the House of Representatives. The lower house will vote on this modified version next Thursday. This time the proposal is expected to be accepted. If that happens, US President Joe Biden wants to sign the plan early next week, after which it will take effect.