2y ago

Biden administration announces $162 million to expand computer chip factories in Colorado and Oregon

www.cnbc.com

The Biden administration is providing $162 million to Microchip Technology to support the domestic production of computer chips — the second funding announcement tied to a 2022 law designed to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.

The incentives include $90 million to improve a plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and $72 million to expand a factory in Gresham, Oregon, the Commerce Department said. The investments would enable Microchip Technology to triple its domestic production and reduce its dependence on foreign factories.

Much of the money would fund the making of microcontrollers, which are used by the military as well as in autos, household appliances and medical devices. Government officials said they expected the investments to create 700 construction and manufacturing jobs over the next decade.

25 comments

Fuck yeah. American jobs and reducing dependence is always good.
I'm sure some will still complain though.
- You are getting none of these chips for free. They are giving public money to a corporation listed on the stock market.
  
  This is the big issue. I get it. I get why it's being done. At the same time holy shit am I tired of my money going to help the rich and kill people over seas, but we get told the poor don't deserve Healthcare and we can't afford to feed the kids in schools.
- Yeah, I can't wait till American chips are the chip version of the Russian Lada. Industrial policy has no negatives and totally doesn't create dead end jobs. Never happened in the Soviet Union, or Japan, or countless other attempts at industrial policy in the past. Let's not learn from our past mistakes. 'Muria, fuck yeah!
  
  Genuine question/curiosity: I can see you're being downvoted, and I can tell that your post is sarcastic. But I'm not informed enough on this area to know what the sarcastic take is. What happened with the Russian Lada? This isn't a part of history I know.
I will keep reposting my thoughts on what's going on.
Xi told Biden that China plans to invade Taiwan. This is an act of diplomacy, giving the US a chance to prevent this from triggering WWIII.
China wants Taiwan for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is TSMC, coupled with the AI embargo the US has levied on China. China must invade Taiwan if they want to be relevant in the tech sector 10 years from now.
Suddenly, Intel, who was once competitive with TSMC and now relies on them entirely, is telling us that "we will be beyond TSMC by 2024" really? No one's buying it. Sounds like a publicity headline to satisfy military brass or some senators or something.
Now we're investing directly in domestic chip manufacturing.
I'm surprised it's not more cash tbh.
The US is trying to effectively move TSMC operations to US soil, in some form or another.
- A war over Taiwan is likely going to destroy Taiwan's domestic production. I would imagine this gets lumped in with things like steel production.
- I was also surprised by the low number, and thought it might be a "first installment" with a sunk-loss mindset. I would expect a number with a B behind it. The future of the world's economy, assuming it doesn't all crash due to climate change, may be dependent on this investment.
- It does seem like removing reliance on Taiwanese fabs is the name of the game. Which is especially bad news for them.
- Long INTC
  
  yuuup
I'm not an expert on this subject, but it seems the majority of the jobs would betemporary. They loop construction and manufacturing into a single number. Would be interested to see how many "permanent" jobs are being created with this money, and maybe even a ROI/break even time scale on those tax dollars.
I assume the vast majority of operations within any microchip factory will be robotic/automated. Meaning a large percentage of that 700 is likely on the construction side. Not poo pooing those per say, but makes it harder to see the full picture.
- I think reducing dependency is a huge gain here and probably the more important point. We all saw what happened with the shortages.
  Beyond that, I don't know what the portion is that is construction. There might be a lot of oversight and QA positions. But even temporary jobs are good. If it takes a year to build, people are getting paid for a year.
  
  Right, hence "not poo pooing those jobs" as they are certainly important, and construction jobs are always temporary (unless they're apparently road construction ones :) )
  It's just always vague the net new in that area.
  No doubt, getting more important manufacturing in country is a big win.
- While there is a lot of automation on the factory floor, there is still a ton of support staff needed, particularly for maintenance of the hardware and infrastructure.
"Hey, look! We're giving millions of dollars of taxpayer money to a private for profit business! Pretty cool right? ... It's, uh, it's gonna fight inflation." - campaign argument of the stupid asshole administration I'm going to vote for later this year because the other guy wants to be a dictator
- The article makes no mention of inflation besides pointing out what the chip shortages caused in the auto industry.
  This is to reduce our dependence on foreign chip manufacturers to reduce the risk of it happening again when China invades Taiwan.
hmmmm....
I had wondered what companies? Why are they not listed?
It is a single company called Microchip Technology.
So, yeah.

25 comments