SIA Echoes President Biden’s Call for Enactment of Investments in Semiconductor Technology

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The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released the following statement from SIA President and CEO John Neuffer regarding President Biden’s State of the Union Address.

“We appreciate President Biden’s continued strong support for swift enactment of competitiveness legislation containing $52 billion to incentivize semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing in the United States. These CHIPS Act investments have broad, bipartisan support from members of Congress, America’s governors and mayors, national security experts, business leaders, and the American public. Funding the CHIPS Act will spur hundreds of billions of dollars in private investments, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and help secure America’s supply of semiconductors for many years to come. We also urge swift enactment of a strengthened FABS Act that includes tax credits for semiconductor manufacturing and design to complement the CHIPS funding as part of a holistic, robust strategy for U.S. semiconductor leadership.

“Semiconductors are foundational to America’s economy, defense systems, and global leadership in the technologies that will determine our future. With other governments around the world taking ambitious action to strengthen their own semiconductor capabilities, the time has come for leaders in Washington to fund the CHIPS Act and enact a strengthened FABS Act to keep America at the forefront of chip technology.”

On Feb. 4, 2022, the House passed critical CHIPS Act investments totaling $52 billion to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research as part of its competitiveness legislation, the America COMPETES Act of 2022. The Senate passed the same level of funding for the CHIPS Act as part of its version of competitiveness legislation, the United States Competition and Innovation Act (USICA), in June 2021. House and Senate leaders must now work on reconciling differences in the bills and passing bipartisan legislation to be signed by the president. A semiconductor investment tax credit, as called for by the FABS Act, is an important complement to the manufacturing incentives and research investments in USICA and America COMPETES.

The share of modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity located in the U.S. has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% today. This decline is largely due to substantial manufacturing incentives offered by the governments of our global competitors, placing the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage in attracting new construction of semiconductor manufacturing facilities, or “fabs.” Additionally, federal investment in semiconductor research has been flat as a share of GDP, while other governments have invested substantially in research initiatives to strengthen their own semiconductor capabilities, and existing U.S. tax incentives for R&D lag behind those of other countries. Furthermore, global semiconductor supply chain vulnerabilities have emerged in recent years that must be addressed through government investments in chip manufacturing and research, according to an SIA-BCG study.

A combination of grants, tax credits, and research investments is needed to turbocharge U.S. semiconductor production and innovation. Enacting a strengthened FABS Act and funding the CHIPS Act are essential components of this holistic, complementary approach to strengthening America’s semiconductor capabilities over the long term.