US considering more than $10 billion in subsidies for Intel as part of CHIPS act to secure domestic semiconductor manufacturing
China is threatening the US chip supply
The US Government is considering providing $10 billion worth of subsidies to Intel to secure semiconductor manufacturing on US home soil.
A report from Bloomberg notes that currently, the majority of semiconductors used in the US for military and civilian application are manufactured in areas of Eastern Asia susceptible to Chinese sabotage and espionage, such as Taiwan.
The CHIPS act has set aside $53 billion to secure domestic semiconductor manufacturing, with firms such as Micron, Samsung, and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in the crosshairs for funding.
Subsidized chips are on the table
Intel is apparently planning to use potential subsidies to build additional semiconductor manufacturing at its sites in Arizona and New Mexico. According to Bloomberg, Intel will likely receive loans and direct grants as part of its subsidies, but both Intel and the US Department of Commerce have declined to comment.
Intel also has plans to construct a chip factory in Ohio that is set to be the world's largest chip manufacturing plant at almost 1,000 acres with a potential eight chip factories. However, Intel is planning to delay the completion of the site until 2026 according to the Wall Street Journal.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo previously designated the funding as a “national security investment,” but has also faced criticism from across the political spectrum for giving too much of the CHIPS funding to Intel instead of further diversifying semiconductor suppliers.
More from TechRadar Pro
- AI set to face its day of reckoning as it confronts biggest threat yet — China and other countries want to slash exponential rise in data center power consumption
- EU urged to stop Meta offering an ad-free subscription service in the EU
- Take a look at our guide to the best password managers
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Benedict Collins is a Staff Writer at TechRadar Pro covering privacy and security. Benedict is mainly focused on security issues such as phishing, malware, and cyber criminal activity, but also likes to draw on his knowledge of geopolitics and international relations to understand the motivations and consequences of state-sponsored cyber attacks. Benedict has a MA in Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy, alongside a BA in Politics with Journalism, both from the University of Buckingham.
6-screen laptop manufacturer is very much alive — Acme Portable's Megapac L3 is the original hexadisplay mobile powerstation and is still on sale, shame that it is still using old dual CPU tech from AMD and Intel
US university creates world's biggest 3D printer ever and it can even use wood dust — named Factory of the Future 1.0, it can print objects almost the size of 40 standard containers