During last week’s State of the Union Harangue, brought to you by Joe Biden, he boasted of his passage of the CHIPS Act.
"Thanks to my CHIPS and Science Act the United States is investing more in research and development than ever before. During the pandemic a shortage of semiconductor chips drove up prices for everything from cell phones to automobiles.
"Well instead of having to import semiconductor chips, which America invented I might add, private companies are now investing billions of dollars to build new chip factories here in America! Creating tens of thousands of jobs many of them paying over $100,000 a year and don’t require a college degree."
We’re fortunate some minion in the White House added explanatory detail, otherwise Biden might have gone on to attack Frito Lay's Doritos for putting fewer chips in its bags.
The only statement in that passage from the speech that’s accurate is the one regarding the shortage of semiconductor chips. And the fact the U.S. invented semiconductor chips.
The rest is the usual Biden malarkey.
The truth is the law was passed, but implementation has been so convoluted that Chip manufacturers are going overseas again.
Writing in The Hill, Matt Cole and Chris Nicholson explain that Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has infected another government program.
"Commentators have noted that CHIPS and Science Act money has been sluggish. What they haven’t noticed is that it’s because the CHIPS Act is so loaded with DEI pork that it can’t move."
As a result, chip manufacturers are throttling back their investments.
"The Biden administration recently promised it will finally loosen the purse strings on $39 billion of CHIPS Act grants to encourage semiconductor fabrication in the U.S.
"But less than a week later, Intel announced that it’s putting the brakes on its Columbus factory. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has pushed back production at its second Arizona foundry. The remaining major chipmaker, Samsung, just delayed its first Texas fab."
Who is throwing sand in the gears? An administration that can’t get out of its own way.
Here is how the authors relate the experience of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
"Because equity is so critical, [(to the Biden administration left adherents)] the makers of humanity’s most complex technology must rely on local labor and apprentices from all those underrepresented groups, as TSMC discovered to its dismay.
"Tired of delays at its first lab, the company flew in 500 employees from Taiwan. This angered local workers, since the implication was that they weren’t skilled enough.
"With CHIPS grants at risk, TSMC caved in December, agreeing to rely on those workers and invest more in training them. A month later, it postponed its second Arizona lab.
"Now TSMC has revealed plans to build a second fab in Japan."
When Uncle Sam is distributing free money to companies usually they are eager to jump in the trough. Not this time, though. The money comes with too many strings.
"Handouts abound. There’s plenty for the left — requirements that chipmakers submit detailed plans to educate, employ, and train lots of women and people of color, as well as 'justice-involved individuals,' more commonly known as ex-cons."
And the staff micro managing even extends to constructing the building that houses the manufacturing. ". . . chipmakers have to make sure they hire plenty of female construction workers, even though less than 10 percent of U.S. construction workers are women.
"They also have to ensure childcare for the female construction workers and engineers who don’t exist yet. They have to remove degree requirements and set 'diverse hiring slate policies,' which sounds like code for quotas."
And the companies employ a certain number of "justice–involved" individuals. In other words, ex-cons.
And don’t forget the "multi-year environmental review" that’s also required.
In short, CHIPS Act implementation is just a continuation of the our industrial suicide, brought to you by the fanatic leftists in the Biden administration who put ideology before practicality.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.