US Commerce Chief: Nation Requires Additional Chip Funding

[T0@st]

US Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, was a notable guest speaker during yesterday's Intel Foundry Direct Connect Keynote—she was invited on (via a video link) to discuss the matter of strengthening the nation's semiconductor industry, and staying competitive with global rivals. During discussions, Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO) cheekily asked whether a "CHIPS Act Part Two" was in the pipeline. Raimondo responded by stating that she is till busy with the original $52 billion tranche: "I'm out of breath running as fast as I can implementing CHIPS One." Earlier this week, her department revealed a $1.5 billion planned direct fund for GlobalFoundries: "this investment will enable GF to expand and create new manufacturing capacity and capabilities to securely produce more essential chips for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense, and other vital markets."

Intel is set to receive a large grant courtesy of the US government's 2022-launched CHIPS and Science Act—exact figures have not been revealed to the public, but a Nikkei Asia report suggests that Team Blue will be benefiting significantly in the near future: "While the Commerce Department has not yet announced how much of the funding package's $52 billion it would grant Intel, the American chipmaker is expected to get a significant portion, according to analysts and officials close to the situation." Raimondo stated that: "Intel is an American champion company and has a very huge role to play in this revitalization." The US Commerce Chief also revealed that she had spoken with artificial intelligence industry leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, about the ever-growing demand for AI-crunching processors/accelerators/GPUs. The country's semiconductor production efforts could be bolstered once more, in order to preserve a competitive edge—Raimondo addressed Gelsinger's jokey request for another batch of subsidies: "I suspect there will have to be—whether you call it Chips Two or something else—continued investment if we want to lead the world...We fell pretty far. We took our eye off the ball."




Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO) introduced the US Commerce Secretary during his Foundry Direct Connect Keynote presentation—skip forward to the 16 minute and 45 second mark:

Intel Newsroom's stated video description: "Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and Stuart Pann, senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry, delivered the morning keynote session. They were joined by thought leaders from industry and government. Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and Satya Nadella, Microsoft chairman and CEO, made remote appearances during the session."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Honestly, silicon/chip manufacturing is as critical to national security and stability as the crops we grow and the energy we produce.

Not a big fan of my tax dollars getting thrown away on some of the more out there stuff, but an ombibus Tech/Chip manufacturing bill (not dissimilar to our Farm Bill) wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to develop and maintain a semiconductor manufacturing base in the US and help absorb price shocks and instability from China/Russia's shenanigans.

 

[bonehead123]

Yea, go ahead, throw yet anutha GAZZILLION $$ at the folks who need it the least, taken from the folks who can least afford it...THE US TAXPAYERS !

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
The irony of the same people that encouraged these trillion dollar companies to build products elsewhere now want tax payers to bribe them to come back
Sorry but prices were mostly why they "trillion dollar companies" wanted to and lobbied the gov to leave to make cheaper and what ever products they create/ produce here I doubt many will be able to afford and that includes OEM's for devices.

So basically they "trillion dollar companies" will be making products for the gov. which has deep pockets obviously because they only tax/ fine/ fee people they "gov" only create messes the tax payers have to clean up.

 

[erocker]

Just odd that the US feels the need to socialize chip production of billion dollar companies but not healthcare and other basic needs.

 

[Space Lynx]

Yea, go ahead, throw yet anutha GAZZILLION $$ at the folks who need it the least, taken from the folks who can least afford it...THE US TAXPAYERS !

Agreed, I call this bs. we need to be less of a throwaway culture. and in wartime production the Army Corps of Engineers could build factories overnight.

America is falling into the same trap the Soviet Union did, fear spending until collapse happens.

 

[JohH]

America is falling into the same trap the Soviet Union did, fear spending until collapse happens.

The Soviet Union economy was a developed economy but focused on heavy industry and military equipment and never made the transition to consumer goods. The US economy is pretty much the opposite today. It is almost exclusively specialized in consumer goods and financial services. And even then most of the production is outsourced. The idea here is to prevent a 'strategic' industry from being entirely outsourced to East Asia where risk of conflict near Taiwan or in Korea is high.

Personally, I'm not confident a conflict will happen, but why expose the entire U.S. economy to additional risk when it only costs a few dozen billion to rebuild some capacity in the US.

 

[Space Lynx]

The Soviet Union economy was a developed economy but focused on heavy industry and military equipment and never made the transition to consumer goods. The US economy is pretty much the opposite today. It is almost exclusively specialized in designing consumer goods. And even then most of the production is outsourced. The idea here is to prevent a 'strategic' industry from being entirely outsourced to East Asia where risk of conflict near Taiwan or in Korea is high.

Personally, I'm not confident a conflict will happen, but why expose the entire U.S. economy to additional risk when it only costs a few dozen billion to rebuild some capacity in the US.

alright, we will continue to spend 850 billion a year of tax money on military, and another half a trillion on defense stuff that has no transparency, while my grandma cuts her medicine in half cause she can't afford to refill it before the social security check arrives. fun times

and government isn't spending any of the current 50 billion chip money right anyway, it all still has to be diffused in malaysia or indonesia, its not a closed system, cause they are incompetent with how they spend our money time and time again

 

[JohH]

alright, we will continue to spend 850 billion a year of tax money on military, and another half a trillion on defense stuff that has no transparency, while my grandma cuts her medicine in half cause she can't afford to refill it before the social security check arrives. fun times

and government isn't spending any of the current 50 billion chip money right anyway, it all still has to be diffused in malaysia or indonesia, its not a closed system, cause they are incompetent with how they spend our money time and time again

Social security is an earned right, they paid for it, but the total spending in 2022 was $1,370 billion. But what matters for medications is that the federal government alone spent $1,750 billion on Medicare and Medicaid in 2022. And there's another $564 billion in other programs (state and federal). But sure, $50 billion for chips is unreasonable; a bridge too far. We really need that money for extra Medicare.

 

[Space Lynx]

The federal government alone spent $1,750 billion on Medicare and Medicaid in 2022 alone. And there's another $564 billion in other programs (state and federal). But sure, $50 billion for chips is unreasonable; a bridge too far.

it is when you are 34 trillion in debt with no end in sight... and the only countries who might attack you will use slave labor to outproduce you massively anyway... so... then it just becomes cold war 2.0 stale mate all over again.

edit: just to be clear, if it were up to me, medicare, medicaid, all of it would be gone and we would have a universal streamline universal healthcare system, with a government run and operated RnD department for new medicine. it would be cheaper for everyone. and we would actually get new innovative medicine, instead of big pharma ceo cash grabs for their yacht club memberships

 

[InVasMani]

If it's needed why did it take so long is the bigger question. Why didn't it happen more like a decade or two ago!? I guess no one back then pulling the levers thought Intel's dominance could be toppled by it's global competitors and now are scrambling to pick up the pieces.

 

[mechtech]

So Intel kinda of sounds like a greek corporation, but the bank/IMF is the taxpayers???

 

[R-T-B]

The irony of the same people that encouraged these trillion dollar companies to build products elsewhere now want tax payers to bribe them to come back

[Citation Needed]

 

[Chaitanya]

Yea, go ahead, throw yet anutha GAZZILLION $$ at the folks who need it the least, taken from the folks who can least afford it...THE US TAXPAYERS !

They already have lost $400 Billions for broadband "upgrade" so what another Billions down the drain.

The Book Of Broken Promises: $400 Billion Broadband Scandal And Free The Net

By the end of 2014, America will have been charged about $400 billion by the local phone incumbents, Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink, for a fiber optic future that never showed up.

www.huffpost.com

 

[onemanhitsquad]

alright, we will continue to spend 850 billion a year of tax money on military, and another half a trillion on defense stuff that has no transparency, while my grandma cuts her medicine in half cause she can't afford to refill it before the social security check arrives. fun times

and government isn't spending any of the current 50 billion chip money right anyway, it all still has to be diffused in malaysia or indonesia, its not a closed system, cause they are incompetent with how they spend our money time and time again

this chips crap will have no transparency either...you will never see an accounting of how the money was dispersed or everything that it went to...nice try though

 

[R-T-B]

Just odd that the US feels the need to socialize chip production of billion dollar companies but not healthcare and other basic needs.

Subsidies are normal all over the globe, not just in "socialist" countries. By comparison the US subsidies aren't even that big.

 

[ThrashZone]

[Citation Needed]

What half or three quarter a trillion ?

 

[R-T-B]

What half or three quarter a trillion ?

I think you misunderstood. I'm trying to have you establish your claim period, not the numbers of it. Of course jobs moved overseas, it was cheaper there so like no duh. Now tie it to the government.

 

[ThrashZone]

I think you misunderstood. I'm trying to have you establish your claim period, not the numbers of it. Of course jobs moved overseas, it was cheaper there so like no duh. Now tie it to the government.

Free trade encouraged US companies to go offshore for cheaper labor.
There was a catch though they couldn't bring funds back without paying much higher tax rates.
More to the story but covid hit lol

 

[erocker]

Subsidies are normal all over the globe, not just in "socialist" countries. By comparison the US subsidies aren't even that big.

Sure!

 

[R-T-B]

Sure!

Do I sense sarcasm? If you want figures just ask. The CHIPS subsidies aren't terribly competitive honestly.

 

[Vayra86]

Just odd that the US feels the need to socialize chip production of billion dollar companies but not healthcare and other basic needs.

Counterproductive thought has been the forte of US citizens for several decades now, unfortunately. Everything is escalation, escalation and more escalation. 'If we do a bit more of what we already did, maybe it will work out differently'. Yeah... right.

Gun laws are of a similar nature. More guns for more safety, and hey, why not bigger guns too, for even more safety! Its really from a special place of stupidity, that, alongside the supposed distrust of a government those very same people still need every day for basic needs. Even with the country's history, you'd think some form of reflection might occur at some point, but no.

So how odd is it, really... one might wonder. Its the human condition. We see it over here too (Netherlands). We're regressing into general stupidity over here too, forgetting many centuries of knowledge and proof of how the opposite happens if you do A or B, and yet, we still go there. We know the erosion of our trias politica for example is the early beginning of a new WW2 and fascism. And here we are. Its eroding, and people cheer for it. History taught them nothing, and/or they don't want to know.

Its not even opinion, the above is proven in actual school results, dropouts, analfabetics rate, and personal & mental welfare. Everything is eroding and we're dropping on global charts.

Idiocracy: the IRL soap opera. Its on air, and the reason is because everyone thinks they know best. True individualism, forgetting the world was built on collective action.

Social security is an earned right, they paid for it, but the total spending in 2022 was $1,370 billion. But what matters for medications is that the federal government alone spent $1,750 billion on Medicare and Medicaid in 2022. And there's another $564 billion in other programs (state and federal). But sure, $50 billion for chips is unreasonable; a bridge too far. We really need that money for extra Medicare.

Now consider what the real cost is of NOT doing a lot of healthcare people actually need. The benefits to an economy with healthy people are evident.

Why do you think companies make sure their employees do have healthcare? Its that much simpler to just organize it for everyone and funnel that money over there. Just because all the expenses were thrown on a big pile and made visible doesn't mean its suddenly costing more money. Also, removing the commercial element out of healthcare also makes it cheaper, more reliable, more equal and fair. Fairness is another such element that will elevate a population of a country to another level. If the systems are fair, or as fair as possible even if you got unlucky in life, you foster de-escalation. This relates to the story above. De-escalation is important, because the alternative is never going to fix anything - its only a recipe for making existing issues worse without fixing the underlying causes.

I don't think the CHIPS money and Medicare are things that can or should cancel each other out. Do both, you need both.