So... is this the full list of social conditions for semiconductor firms to access $50 billion in CHIPS Act funding? congress.gov/bill/116th-con…
Also appears Secretary can consider how helpful the firm has been to US national security needs.
Each project is capped at $3 billion, but that can be waived if scale or security concerns surface.
GAO will assess impact of funding on diverse hiring and US chip market share, though nothing in here like the vision of the Biden supply chain review (which envisions card check neutrality for unions, among other conditions)
DOD is authorized to put together consortia of companies to service military semiconductor needs
And State can also disperse funds for "friendshoring" of semiconductors.
Condition there: join the Semiconductor Club, with discriminatory treatment of those not in it.
Inside the club, harmonized approach on export controls, intellectual property, investment screening.
NIST at Commerce will have a new committee tasked with ensuring US R/D dominance in chips.
It'll have an outside advisory committee.
Two notable aspects:
1) Labor won't be included.
2) Federal advisory committee transparency practices (FACA) aren't applicable.
There will also be a public-private "national" lab for semiconductors
Goal will be supporting research into tech, start ups specializing in commercialization of said tech, and an academic pipeline into the labs/industry.
And there's a Buy American Plus requirement that any intellectual property resulting from this R&D investments have its associated production be Made in America.
Aaaand... they're calling in the Defense Production Act (DPA), though focusing on the more "market-like" provisions (subsidies to private companies under the DPA's Title III), rather than the more socialized allocation approach under Title I.
Trump signed the CHIPS Act into law January 1, 2021, as part of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.
There were 13 nay votes - some progressives, some Trumpys. It was a massive bill, so not necessarily CHIPS Act motivated.
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The US Innovation and Competition Act, which passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis earlier this month, included the Build America, Buy America Act, which significantly tightens Buy American rules. congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
The congressional findings section makes clear the multifaceted reasons why the spending of tax dollars for procurement purposes is unlike spending by private market actors.
The bipartisan agreed definition of "infrastructure" goes beyond the "roads and bridges" definition some in the GOP have insisted on, and included water and broadband.
Welcome to 21st century foreign investment protection policy. The left doesn't like tools like ISDS, but the beneficiaries of investment protection efforts will increasingly be green industries, which the left likes and wishes to be politically stronger. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
To be clear, ISDS is not mentioned here. But we know from the last decade of ISDS cases in Europe that a lot of disputes are related to governments making clean energy schemes less generous to producers.
To be even more clear, I count myself as implicated in this particular uncomfortable tension.
Thirteen senators call on Biden to temporarily suspend Buy American waivers for trade agreement partners, noting "this crisis has demonstrated the risks of long foreign supply chains."
This presidential discretion is built into the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, which greenlit the waivers in the first place. No statutory change needed. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19…
While some will bemoan the symbolism of closing procurement opportunities for allies, the reality is that: a) there doesn't appear to much uptake of this anyway; and gao.gov/products/gao-1…