Raimondo: Commerce Dept. will spend all of the CHIPS Act grant money this year

TAYLOR,
Texas
—
The
Commerce
Department
is
on
track
to
dole
out
all
of
the
$39
billion
in
grant
money
allocated
under
the
CHIPS
Act
by
year-end,
Commerce
Secretary
Gina
Raimondo
told
CNBC
on
Monday.

The
Commerce
Department
is
providing
the
money
to
semiconductor
companies
to
incentivize
them
to
build
out
manufacturing
production
capabilities
in
the
U.S.
The
Biden
administration
announced
earlier
Monday
that
it
would
be
providing


Samsung
with
up
to
$6.4
billion
in
grants
to
expand
two
chip
plants
in
central
Texas
—
leaving
roughly
$16
billion
left
in
subsidies
to
be
distributed
before
the
end
of
2024.

“We’re
on
a
roll.
We’ve
done
three
of
these
in
the
past
month.
We’ll
be
doing
more
in
the
coming
weeks,”
Raimondo
said
in
an
interview
on
the
sidelines
of
Samsung’s
award
announcement
event
at
its
Taylor
facility. “I
expect
all
of
the
money
in
the
CHIPS
Act
will
be
allocated
by
the
end
of
this
year.”

The
award
announcements
so
far
have
focused
primarily
on
leading-edge
chips,
the
most
advanced
type
of
semiconductors.


Intel
will
receive
up
$8.5
billion
in
incentives
to
invest
in
projects
in
Arizona,
New
Mexico,
Ohio
and
Oregon,
while


Taiwan
Semiconductor
is
due
to
receive
up
to
$6.6
billion
in
grants
for
projects
in
Arizona. 

Now
that
the
biggest
grants
have
been
doled
out,
future
award
packages
will
focus
on
memory
chips
and
investments
in
suppliers,
wafers,
and
chemicals,
Raimondo
said.

The
Samsung
award
announced
Monday
will
help
the
company
create
what
officials
call
an “advanced
manufacturing
ecosystem”
in
central
Texas,
where
multiple
steps
in
the
chip
production
process
will
all
be
done
on
a
single
campus.
The
Taylor
facility
will
be
twice
as
big
as
Samsung’s
signature
facility
in
South
Korea,
Raimondo
said.

“It’s
a
little
city
of
manufacturing,
and
around
it
will
come
suppliers,”
she
continued. “So
when
I
say
the
whole
ecosystem,
it’s
research
and
development,
packaging,
manufacturing,
job
training,
and
all
of
the
upstream
suppliers
which
will
make
America
stronger
and
more
secure.”