The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the dangers of America’s reliance on foreign supply chains for critical products and industries.
It has likewise reinforced what many in the United States have recognized for years: American reliance on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for critical technologies is both an economic and national security threat. PRC threats to withhold critical medical equipment from certain countries during a global pandemic they created should be the final wake-up call for the United States and our allies that dependence on the PRC in critical industries, including the semiconductor chip industry, is untenable.
Semiconductors are the brains of many universal technologies we use daily such as smartphones and coffee pots, as well as machinery that is essential to national security, like F-35 jets.
While semiconductors were invented in the United States, and are often still designed here, semiconductors are primarily manufactured overseas. With the bulk of this supply chain an ocean away, and in proximity to a hostile government, the U.S. is in a vulnerable economic and national security situation.
The combination of a growing dependency on, and threats from, the PRC necessitate America taking bold action to better secure this critical supply chain.
It is critical that the United States strengthens our industrial base for the domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. That is why we introduced the bipartisan CHIPS for America Act — to restore American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, secure this vital supply chain, grow well-paying jobs, and ensure our technological long-term national security and economic competitiveness.
The CHIPS for America Act will increase federal incentives to semiconductor manufacturers that invest in production capacity in the United States. It also mandates that the Department of Defense establish funding for research, development, testing and evaluation of projects and activities related to semiconductors and other technologies. Additionally, the bill would create a Multilateral Semiconductor Fund to establish a common funding mechanism for semiconductors with our allies.
This bill is essential in encouraging the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, like GlobalFoundries, to expand their operations in the United States. Even before we started taking concrete steps on this issue in Congress, GlobalFoundries had plans in the works to expand their U.S. operations, and in June the company secured 66 acres in Saratoga County, New York to add to their $13 billion manufacturing facility in Malta, New York. At that facility, GlobalFoundries already employs nearly 3,000 New Yorkers with high-paying, high-skilled jobs — we should do everything we can to encourage the creation of more similar jobs in Upstate New York.
That is why it is essential for Congress to create the right business environment so world-class companies that want to expand in the United States — like GlobalFoundries — are encouraged to do so and on a larger scale.
While the PRC has recognized the value of domestically producing semiconductors by pouring tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to dominate the semiconductor industry, the U.S. has been lagging behind. Bottom line, the U.S. must better compete to retain and attract semiconductor production and R&D at home.
The CHIPS for America Act, alongside the President’s efforts to bring manufacturing back to the United States provide a solid foundation for rebuilding our manufacturing base in critical technologies. We must continue to pursue a whole of government approach to solve our current domestic manufacturing shortfall, strengthen American economic competitiveness and protect our national security.
We hope our colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us in our efforts to create American jobs, hold the PRC accountable, and start making advanced chips here in the United States.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik is a Republican who has been representing New York's 21st Congressional District since 2015. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul representing the 10th Congressional District in Texas since 2005 is the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Link LonkSeptember 06, 2020 at 01:00AM
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Reader's View: Why we need CHIPS for America Act - The Saratogian
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