Trump wants to kill $52.7 billion semiconductor chips subsidy law

Washington: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday US lawmakers should get rid of a landmark 2022 bipartisan law to give $52.7 billion in subsidies for semiconductor chips manufacturing and production and use the proceeds to pay debt.

"Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn't mean a thing. They take our money and they don't spend it," Trump said in a speech to Congress. "You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt."

The CHIPS and Science Act signed by then President Joe Biden in August 2022 included $39 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor manufacturing and related components along with $75 billion in government lending authority.

The comments were Trump's strongest criticism of the bipartisan CHIPS Act to date. "We don't have to give them money," Trump said, suggesting that avoiding new tariffs would be enough to convince them to build US factories.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has praised the program but said previously he wanted to review awards finalized under Biden.

Then Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo under Biden convinced all five leading-edge global semiconductor firms to locate factories in the United States through government grants in the effort to tackle national security risks from imported chips.

In the final weeks of the Biden administration, the Commerce Department finalized more than $33 billion in awards including $4.745 billion to South Korea's Samsung Electronics, up to $7.86 billion for Intel, $6.6 billion for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and $6.1 billion for Micron.

Some officials have expressed concern Trump could seek to invalidate binding grant agreements struck in the Biden administration.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday the law "is the reason Micron is bringing $100 billion and 50,000 jobs to Central New York. Trump just said he wants to get rid of it."

TSMC announced this week with Trump it plans to make a new $100 billion investment in the United States that involves building five additional chip facilities there in coming years.

Lutnick referenced the $6.6 billion award for TSMC in a White House event on Monday - but noted the department was not planning to give TSMC any new subsidies - though it is eligible for a 25% manufacturing investment tax credit. TSMC said last month it has already received $1.5 billion of its award.

Representative Greg Stanton said Trump's comments were a "direct attack on Arizona's semiconductor industry and tens of thousands of Arizona workers." He said TSMC's $100 billion investment would not have happened without the law.

This week about one-third of the staff in the US Commerce Department office overseeing $39 billion of manufacturing subsidies for chipmakers was laid off, two sources familiar with the situation said.

Reuters reported last month that the new Trump administration, which has embarked on a dramatic overhaul of the federal government, is reviewing the projects awarded.