Trump Renegotiating Biden-era Chips Act Grants

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At a hearing on June 4, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration is renegotiating several of former President Joe Biden’s U.S. CHIPS and Science Act grants to semiconductor firms, Reuters reported.

Lutnick made his remarks to lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee, stating that some grants being renegotiated, “just seemed overly generous, and we've been able to renegotiate them."

He added, “All the deals are getting better, and the only deals that are not getting done are deals that should have never been done in the first place,” intimating that they would eliminate some awards.

President Donald Trump, in his March 4 address to Congress and House Speaker Mike Johnson, called for the repeal of the 2022 Biden-era CHIPS Act. “It was a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars, and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it. You should get rid of the CHIPS Act, and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt.”

On August 9, 2022, President Biden signed into law the $52.7 billion bill aimed at revitalizing the U.S. semiconductor industry by increasing domestic manufacturing and R&D.

Among the companies that are recipients of CHIPS Act awards are Intel, Texas Instruments, Hemlock Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics and Bosch.