US President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to award billions of dollars in subsidies in coming weeks to top semiconductor companies including Intel and Taiwan’s TSMC to help build new factories in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported at the weekend.

The forthcoming announcements aim to kick-start manufacturing of advanced semiconductors that power smartphones, artificial intelligence and weapons systems, the WSJ reported, citing industry executives familiar with the negotiations.

The executives expect some announcements to come before Biden’s state-of-the-union address on 7 March, according to the report.

Among the likely recipients of the subsidies, Intel has projects underway in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon that will cost more than US$43.5-billion, the paper said.

Another likely recipient, TSMC, has two plants under construction near Phoenix for a total investment of $40-billion. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, also a contender, has a $17.3-billion project in Texas.

Micron Technology, Texas Instruments and GlobalFoundries count among other top contenders, the WSJ added citing industry executives.

The US department of commerce refused to discuss any potential applicants and declined to comment on any timing reports.

Tough negotiations

“This is a merit-based process with tough commercial negotiations — Chips awards will be entirely dependent upon which projects will advance US economic and national security,” a department spokesperson said, citing a commerce official. TSMC declined to comment while Intel did not respond to a request.

In December, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said she would make around a dozen funding awards for semiconductor chips within the next year, including multibillion-dollar announcements that could drastically reshape US chip production.

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The first award was announced in December, of over $35-million to a BAE Systems facility in Hampshire to produce chips for fighter planes, part of a $39-billion “Chips for America” subsidy programme approved by the US congress in 2022. — Rishabh Jaiswal, (c) 2024 Reuters