While many computer chips are designed in the U.S. by companies like Intel, Raimondo told CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Wednesday, manufacturing location is just as important. “If you allow yourself to think of a scenario where the United States no longer had access to the brands that are currently made in Taiwan, it’s a scary scenario,” Raimondo said. “It’s a deep and immediate recession. It’s a failure to protect ourselves by making military equipment. We have to make it in America. We need a manufacturing base to produce these chips, at least enough of these chips, here on our shores because otherwise we’ll be very dependent on other countries”. Over $50B CHIPS Act Will Help Subsidize U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing Computer chips are used in a range of internet-connected devices, from smartphones to medical technology and cars. The bill, which cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday but must pass both chambers, has bipartisan support, although some lawmakers have questioned the need to subsidize companies that have made stock buybacks. The bill now includes a ban on using the funds for buybacks or dividends. The semiconductor industry lobbied hard for the bill’s passage, with Intel warning that its planned Ohio manufacturing plant, which it said it would initially invest $20 billion in, could be delayed as a result of the congressional standoff. Raimondo criticized the industry’s heavy funding, calling semiconductors “a cornerstone technology that is necessary to support every other innovation-based industry.” Raimondo added that the country’s heavy reliance on foreign chipmaking, with what she said is 90% of state-of-the-art chips purchased from Taiwan, poses a national security risk to the US He also said it is important to ensure that companies have incentives to expand chip manufacturing in the US, rather than turning to other countries that may offer attractive benefits. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. ATTENTION: Inside Intel’s ambitious plans to regain chipmaker dominance
