Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Politics
posted by janrinok on Monday July 04 2022, @10:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the somebody-wants-more-bribes dept.

U.S. May Lose Silicon Wafer Factory If Congress Can't Fund CHIPS Act, Commerce Secretary Says

U.S. may lose silicon wafer factory if Congress can't fund CHIPS Act, commerce secretary says:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Monday that she believes GlobalWafers will follow through on its plan to build a silicon wafer factory in Texas — but only if Congress passes funding for the CHIPS for America Act by the time the August recess begins.

"This investment that they're making is contingent upon Congress passing the CHIPS Act [funding]. The CEO told me that herself, and they reiterated that today," Raimondo said in an interview on "Mad Money."

"It has to be done before they go to August recess. I don't know how to say it any more plainly. This deal ... will go away, I think, if Congress doesn't act," she added.

GlobalWafers, a Taiwan-based semiconductor silicon wafer firm, said Monday that it plans to build a facility to produce the component in Sherman, Texas. The facility could create up to 1,500 jobs and produce 1.2 million wafers a month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

The CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) for America Act incentivizes investment in the U.S. semiconductor industry. While it was passed in January 2021, a funding package has not been approved by Congress.

McConnell Warns Dems of Fallout for Reviving Biden Bill

McConnell warns Dems of fallout for reviving Biden bill:

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell threatened Thursday to derail a bill designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States if Democrats revive their stalled climate and social policy package.

The rejuvenation of the Democratic reconciliation package, central to President Joe Biden's agenda, remains a work in progress and is far from certain. But with some signs of progress in the negotiations, McConnell is moving to complicate Democratic plans by warning that Republicans would react by stopping separate semiconductor legislation from moving over the finish line in the coming weeks, despite its bipartisan support.

"Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill," McConnell tweeted, referring to the shorthand name for the computer chips bill that passed the Senate last year.

Both chambers of Congress have passed their versions of the legislation, which would include $52 billion in incentives for companies to locate chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. Lawmakers are now trying to reconcile the considerable differences between the two bills, but at a pace that has many supporters worried the job won't get done before lawmakers break for their August recess.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06 2022, @01:11PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06 2022, @01:11PM (#1258505)

    No, it was about "why should Amazon get tax breaks when `Mom & Pop Coffee Shop` doesn't". Amazon promised to bring ten "gazillion jobs" into an area (that already had help-wanted signs on most retail shops) for the "low, low cost" of "I don't need to contribute to the economy where i make my money". Being a resident of the local area, I found that the talking-points in the media didn't line up with what the people in the area actually wanted - which was "ok, build your stupid headquarters, but don't increase my property taxes to pay for it". What ended up happening was a smaller-than-planned office, with no "perks" from the government, which never met their own hiring estimates (sound familiar)?

    We were all very aware of the Foxconn fiasco in Wisconsin, and we'd rather not fund that kind of nonsense here

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06 2022, @03:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06 2022, @03:26PM (#1258537)

    Yeah, there are the shenanigans about tax negotiation as well, and of course the logical position for a jurisdiction is: "Sorry you feel that way, you obviously wouldn't like it here and shouldn't move here."

    But the financial calculation is far from the only one, which is what NYC's experience illustrated. Bear in mind that Amazon is headquartered in Seattle, and that is by no means a cheap city in which to do business. Sheer headline expense wasn't what drove Amazon to look elsewhere; it was also the sheer, naked hostility from the local government. AOC just made sure that it was crystal clear that they could expect more of the same in NYC, with the immediate result that regardless of local costs, NYC suddenly dropped off the list like rain from a gutter. Local office? Sure. HQ2? Not gonna happen.

    An analogous case just came up with Newsom trying to woo californians back from Florida. The chances of people who left California because of its current situation, to go to Florida, wanting to go back is quite small. Floridian officials looked amused, not concerned.