“The CHIPS act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it,” Trump said in a speech to Congress.
“You should get rid of the CHIPS act and whatever is left over, Mr Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt.”
The CHIPS and Science Act signed by then President Joe Biden in August 2022 included US$39 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor manufacturing and related components along with US$75 billion in government lending authority.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has praised the programme but said previously he wanted to review awards finalised during the Biden administration.
Under Biden, the commerce department convinced all five leading-edge global semiconductor firms to locate factories in the US in the effort to tackle national security risks from imported chips.
In the final weeks of the Biden administration, the commerce department finalised more than US$33 billion in awards including US$4.75 billion to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics up to US$7.86 billion for Intel, US$6.6 billion for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and US$6.1 billion for Micron.
Some officials have expressed concern Trump could seek to invalidate binding grant agreements struck in the Biden administration.
New York governor Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday the law “is the reason Micron is bringing US$100 billion and 50,000 jobs to Central New York. Trump just said he wants to get rid of it.”
TSMC announced this week with Trump it plans to make a new US$100 billion investment in the US that involves building five additional chip facilities there in coming years.
Lutnick referenced the US$6.6 billion award in a White House event – but noted the department was not planning to give TSMC any new subsidies. TSMC said last month it has already received US$1.5 billion of its award.
This week about one-third of the staff in the US commerce department office overseeing US$39 billion of manufacturing subsidies for chipmakers was laid off, two sources familiar with the situation said.
Reuters reported last month that the new Trump administration, which has embarked on a dramatic overhaul of the federal government, is reviewing the projects awarded.