Global chip manufacturers compete for US government subsidies, Intel may share the "big cake"

On August 1, according to BusinessKorea, global semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, Intel, and TSMC seem to be very concerned about how these subsidies will be distributed as the US Congress recently passed the 2022 Chip Act, which provides $52 billion to support the US semiconductor industry.

According to the report, the US House of Representatives passed the "Chip and Science Act" by a vote of 243-187 on July 28 (local time). The bill was approved by the Senate the day before and will become a law when signed by President Joe Biden.

The gist of the bill is to invest a total of $280 billion to develop America's high-tech industries.

In total, $52 billion will go to the semiconductor industry, including $39 billion for U.S. semiconductor facilities, $11 billion for research and workforce development, and $2 billion for defense-related semiconductor chip manufacturing. Companies building semiconductor factories in the U.S. are eligible for a 25 percent tax credit. At the same time, spending on high-tech research projects has also increased significantly, for example, $200 billion has been allocated to the development of scientific research.

The report pointed out that Samsung Electronics is investing $17 billion to build a new foundry in Tyler, Texas, and is expected to receive federal subsidies. In addition, SK Hynix plans to invest 15 billion US dollars to establish a memory semiconductor packaging plant and a semiconductor R&D center in the United States. TSMC announced plans to invest $12 billion in Arizona to produce 5nm chips.

According to media reports, people are increasingly worried that Intel may use its huge financial resources to lobby the US Congress and take a large piece of the "cake" from it. In the early stages of discussions on the bill, Intel submitted comments to the U.S. government on the need to provide financial support primarily to U.S. chipmakers rather than non-U.S. companies.

However, Samsung Electronics submitted comments that the U.S. should also support non-U.S. companies and weigh their positive impact on the U.S. economy, according to a Commerce Department document released in March.

Earlier this year, Intel Corp. laid out plans to invest at least $20 billion in its Ohio factory, but delayed its planned groundbreaking ceremony indefinitely because of a delay in passage of the chip bill. Since then, with the passage of the bill on July 28, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger once again expressed his willingness to start construction of the Ohio factory.