Biden signs order to expedite CHIPS law implementation

On August 25, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to fast-track a bill that will boost domestic “semiconductor manufacturing and help the U.S. compete with China’s dominance in the industry.” The directive creates a steering committee to help agencies coordinate their efforts to put the law into action, and it outlines the administration’s priorities as companies apply for and use funds made available by the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

The Implementation Steering Council will be co-chaired by National Economic Director Brian Deese, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Office of Science and Technology Policy Acting Director Alondra Nelson. Biden will also have several of his Cabinet members serve as part of this council. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are said to be on the council.

The government has 6 priorities when it comes to putting this law into place:

• protecting taxpayer dollars
• meeting national security and economic interests
• developing long-term U.S. leadership in the sector
• strengthening and expanding regional manufacturing and innovation clusters
• attracting private sector investment
• and generating broad benefits for stakeholders such as startups and minority-owned or rural businesses

The law intends to fund long-term research into the development of microchips, which are used in a variety of products such as cell phones, electric vehicles, and household electronics. This could potentially and positively impact the trucking industry, especially the autonomous trucking industry. Transport Topics reports, “Silicon Valley was a leader in semiconductor development, but the U.S. has since lost market share to manufacturers in Asia. The U.S. share of global microprocessor chip production has fallen to 10% to 12% from 40% production in earlier years, according to Raimondo, who played a key role in advancing the law.”

They will be posting updates at CHIPS.gov.