MANCHESTER, N.H. – As the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act was signed into law on Wednesday, U.S. Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH-01) got a firsthand look at a local company the bill is intended to help and investigate whether more congressional action is needed.
The $280 billion bill, an amendment of a larger appropriations bill, is designed to boost domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips through targeted investment in STEM education, semiconductor manufacturing facilities and supply chains as well as a tax credit for advanced manufacturing.
Pappas’ factfinding tour brought him to the Perimeter Road facility of Micross Components, a provider of microelectronic products, including semiconductor chips.
Micross Vice President and General Manager of Component Modification Services Donald Tyler was grateful for Pappas’ visit and described the passage of the CHIPS Act as key for his business.
“We’re certainly suffering from supply chain issues, we’re not getting the components that we would expect to get now,” he said.
Even with the CHIPS Act, Tyler expects that it will take at least three years to see a significant impact on the American semiconductor industry given the lead time needed in transitioning factories across the globe. However, with increased domestic capability, he expects more resiliency against foreign supply chain disruptions in the future.
Pappas said ensuring the United States is protected from those disruptions is one of the key reasons he championed the bill in Congress. Currently the world’s leading producer of semiconductors is Taiwan, a supply that could be cut off in the case of an invasion from China.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’re putting America’s economic and national security needs first, and we do that by measures like this that incentivize building out American manufacturing and provide tax credits that can rebuild industries that have previously been largely offshore,” he said. “I think what we saw in terms of disruptions during the pandemic were just a small foreshadowing of what we might see.”
In addition to insulating existing American companies from supply chain shocks, Pappas believes that the bill will create new economic growth in advanced manufacturing as well.
“This bill is a down payment on a future of more manufacturing in the U.S. that will provide more good paying jobs and ensuring this country can outcompete any other nation in the world,” he said.
On Thursday, Pappas joined U.S. Representative Annie Kuster (D-NH-02), U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to discuss the impacts of the bill at onsemi in Hudson, another local company involved in semiconductor manufacturing.
“This is a historic week for American-made chips and today’s announcement is an important step in our efforts to bring chipmaking back home,” said Raimondo. “Senators Shaheen and Hassan and Representatives Kuster and Pappas worked tirelessly to get the CHIPS and Science Act to President Biden’s desk. I also applaud onsemi for choosing to invest in America. I’m confident that with President Biden’s enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act, we’re going to see more investments in the semiconductor industry across America.”