Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Sid Salter: Tech & Global Politics Make CHIPS & Science Act a Necessary Investment

 Mississippi Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith are in near-lockstep on their votes – skewing conservative on fiscal and social issues and reflecting the views of their conservative Mississippi constituencies.

But on the matter of the CHIPS and Science Act, Wicker and Hyde-Smith found themselves on opposite sides of the legislation. Wicker voted in favor of it. Hyde-Smith voted against it.


The split vote of Mississippi’s U.S. Senate delegation becomes even more interesting when one considers that a year earlier, Wicker and Hyde-Smith were united as signatories on a bipartisan letter calling on President Joe Biden to increase U.S. semiconductor production in reaction to the global computer chip shortage after the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the tenuous global semiconductor supply chain.


The original legislation under U.S. Senate consideration was a measure that would have provided $52 billion in subsidies/incentives to encourage chipmakers to open U.S. semiconductors production/fabrication plants. The bill that passed the Senate, the House and went to Biden’s desk was a much larger, more expansive legislation that analysts put in the $280 billion range to supercharge research and development for America’s domestic semiconductor industry and to fuel direct competition with China in these economic sectors.


Fleishmann Hilliard senior vice president Matthew Caldecutt – in guiding communications professionals to be able to discuss the complex, 1,000-page plus legislation, wrote on August 1: “The CHIPS and Science Act is primarily a way to directly pay semiconductor companies for setting up semiconductor fabrication plants – or “fabs” – and making future investments in the U.S. It sets aside around $50 billion for semiconductor companies with $39 billion to build, expand or modernize domestic facilities, and $11 billion for research and development. Another $2 billion will help fund other areas of the semiconductor industry – education, defense and future innovation.”


But that definition misses the mark of the full scope of the CHIPS and Science Act – in which Congress authorizes but has not finally appropriated some $81 billion for National Science Foundation research over five years, another $11 billion for U.S. Commerce Dept. Technology Hubs, and $9 billion for National Institute for Standards and Technology. In short, the NSF authorization could be the largest – if they are indeed finally appropriated – funding increase since the agency’s 1950 inception.


So, Hyde-Smith’s immediate concerns over the bill’s deficit spending and national debt impact have a basis. But what then of Wicker’s vote supporting the CHIPS Act? Wicker’s gutsy vote took the long and globally strategic view that the U.S. must not be dependent on our adversaries.


The Semiconductor Industry Association defines semiconductors as the brains of modern electronics, “enabling advances in medical devices and health care, communications, computing, defense, transportation, clean energy, and technologies of the future such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced wireless networks.”


While the U.S. semiconductor industry remains a worldwide leader with $258 billion in sales (2020) and over 250,000 employees, competition from Taiwan, China and South Korea is substantial and growing. As it was in shipbuilding after World War II, America has seen the substantial offshoring of semiconductor fabrication and that trend is growing exponentially.


The U.S. has the most powerful Navy in the world – yet no less than a Pentagon report verifies that the Peoples’ Republic of China has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines. In comparison, the U.S. Navy’s battle force was approximately 293 ships as of early 2020.


In June, the Center for Strategic and International Studies offered this bipartisan assessment: “All major U.S. defense systems and platforms rely on semiconductors for their performance. Consequently, the erosion of U.S. capabilities in microelectronics is a direct threat to the United States’ ability to defend itself and its allies.


“Moreover, the U.S. civilian economy is deeply dependent on semiconductor-based platforms for its daily operations. Ensuring U.S. leadership in semiconductor technology and securing the integrity of the value chains that design, manufacture, package, and distribute these chips are perhaps the preeminent economic and national security concerns of the modern era,” the CSIS concluded.


Doubt it? The average new automobile in the U.S. has over 1,000 computer chips. Now think about military planes, ships, tanks, or NORAD monitoring. Technology and global politics make growth in high-end semiconductor fabrication and research a matter of national security.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The average new automobile in the U.S. has over 1,000 computer chips."

That's because the average automaker CEO, the average designer, and the average consumer are all idiots. I think they put those TV screens in cars so you have some entertainment while you're waiting on the tow truck.

Anonymous said...

Has there ever really been a welfare bill passed that Sid didn't stand up to applaud?

Road and Track reported yesterday that virtually no EVs qualify for expanded tax credits.

Anonymous said...

Hyde-Smith has not introduced a single piece of significant legislation since she got to the Senate.

Anonymous said...

More Sid word-vomit. Regurgitation of nothing. Blah blah blah. NEXT.

Anonymous said...

On e again, Sid “paid by the word” uses the whole thesaurus to expound on a simple point.

I’ll offer an abridged and expurgated version:

“We use a lot of technology that uses chips.”

You’re welcome…. Lol

Anonymous said...

Roger Wicker wants to be a Democrat so bad he will vote for anything they propose, no matter the cost. (See davos featured speakers 2022) . He’s a charlatan rino.

Anonymous said...

LMAO
All of the “chips” in production today besides ARM (UK) based chips, were designed in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s. We are all still using updated versions Intels 8086.

AMD, Intel, and Apple aren’t reinventing the wheel each new generation. They have just been shrinking the dies (chips are etched in a lithographic process) while increasing the voltages and thermal limits. Next they started adding a few new instructions each generation to speed up processing, and doubling the core counts.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) was already moving a factory node to Arizona before this bill passed. TSMC makes everyone’s chips now. Including Intel.

All those boomers in DC cared about was their insider trading. Buying a bunch of tech stocks, media pumping it, and then dumping it, right as the bill passed. How else does Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Bennie Thompson earn $100+ million on a public servant’s salary?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and over the last 20 years Bennie Thompson has been a juggernaut for this district.

Anonymous said...

Wicker actually works. Hyde-Smith does what she's told to do.
Wicker acted honorably on January 6th. Hyde-Smith did not.
I do applaud her " make over" appearance however. God knows physical beauty is a major requirement for female Republicans these days but she should worry that some more natural beauties in the GOP are eyeing her seat.

Anonymous said...

@10:46
You false-flagging, concern-trolling commie traitors always make me 😂 😆
I can’t wait for the lulz 😂 😂 on the DOTR!

Anonymous said...

I see where Sid's been browsing Wikipedia again.

Anonymous said...

Sid really should stick to what he understands.

Topics like the history of the "MSU Cow Bell" ... and such.

Anonymous said...

When China invades Taiwan, the US supply of chips will be cut in half. We had to have this, unfortunately.



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