Source: AFP
US President Joe Biden unveiled nearly $20bn in grants and loans for Intel’s domestic chip factories – his administration’s biggest investment in the sector as he takes on China’s chip dominance and sells his economic achievements against the electoral opponent Donald Trump.
Biden’s decision to make the announcement during a trip to Arizona underscores his strategy of highlighting legislative accomplishments in key battleground states ahead of November’s presidential rematch against Republican Trump.
“Unlike my predecessor, I was determined to turn things around to invest in America — Americans, all Americans. And that’s what we did,” Biden said in a speech at the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona.
Biden said the investment in Intel facilities in four states — Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon — would put the United States on track to make 20 percent of the world’s cutting-edge chips by the end of the decade .
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He then blasted Trump further, saying “my predecessor would let the future be rebuilt in China and other countries, not America, because it might be cheaper.”
Arizona, in the southwestern United States, was one of the tightest races of 2020, with Biden winning by just 10,457 votes — and the president will likely need to win it again in 2024.
The Democrat, 81, faces a tough re-election fight as he tries to win over voters who remain skeptical of his economic record despite strong recent growth and job creation data, steady low unemployment and slowing inflation.
The White House said the deal with Intel would provide up to $8.5 billion in direct funding along with $11 billion in CHIPS and Science Act loans.
“America’s Return”
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Source: AFP
The $8.5 billion is the largest of any grant awarded so far under the $52.7 billion 2022 legislation, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters before the announcement.
The money will help incentivize Intel to make more than $100 billion worth of investments, which will be one of the largest investments ever made in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, he said.
“We rely on a very small number of factories in Asia for all our most sophisticated brands. This is untenable and unacceptable,” he said.
“It’s an economic security problem. It’s a national security problem. And we’re going to change that,” he added.
Intel also plans to claim an investment tax credit from the U.S. Treasury Department of up to 25 percent for certain capital expenditures, according to the White House, which will significantly increase the amount of financial support it receives from the US government.
The tax credit is tied to a separate Biden administration policy — also passed in 2022 — called the Inflation Reduction Act.
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“Intel’s investment is an exciting part of America’s comeback story, with cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing returning to America for the first time in 40 years,” Biden’s National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard told reporters on the same call.
The new funding will create 10,000 new construction roles and 20,000 construction jobs, many of them union, Brainard said.
The White House estimates the investment will directly support at least 10,000 new jobs in both Arizona and Ohio. About 3,000 roles in each state will be under construction and the remaining 7,000 will be under construction.
Source: AFP