The American Iron and Steel Institute has welcomed House and Senate passage of the CHIPS Act. AISI said “We applaud passage by Congress this week of the CHIPS Act. This bill will promote much-needed investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing so that the microchips that are necessary for many essential products can be made in the US rather than being imported from overseas. In particular, this will help address the chip supply challenges faced by US automakers, thereby boosting the entire automotive supply chain, including the American steel industry. Steel currently makes up about 54 percent of the mass of the average North American vehicle, and the American steel industry is developing and supplying the advanced steel products needed by the American automotive industry as automakers transition to electric vehicles. We look forward to President Biden signing the CHIPS Act into law in the coming days.” The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is a bill that received bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and Senate. The final iteration passed in the House on 28 July 2022 with 243 votes in favor and 187 votes against. The main centerpiece of the CHIPS Act is the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Fund. The bill sets aside more than USD 52 billion in subsidies to support the development and adoption of secure and trusted telecommunications technologies, secure semiconductors, secure semiconductors supply chains, and other emerging technologies. That money is intended to fund the construction of semiconductor fabrication plants in the United States. The bill also aims to boost education and science work in the United States, including establishing multiple Carbon Materials Research Center locations, coordinating climate research between NOAA, NASA, and other agencies, improving STEM education programs, upgrading the Energy Sciences Network, and more. Over the past few years, semiconductor chips, which are required for all modern electronics, from smartphones to trucks, have been in short supply. Limited production capacity, growing demand for electronics, political disputes, and supply chain problems from the COVID-19 pandemic are all contributing factors. The shortage has led to graphics cards becoming hard to find, car makers leaving out some features in new cars, rising costs for some computer components, and other problems. There are many fabrication plants worldwide, but most of them can only manufacture larger node sizes, while smaller node sizes are more desirable for new products. For example, Intel processors from a few years ago like the Core i5-8250U were built on a 14nm process, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset used in the Galaxy S22 is built on a 4nm process. Smaller processes allow chips to run at higher speeds and improve power efficiency, crucial factors for modern electronics, especially portable devices. Apple’s M2 chipset, found in the new MacBook Air, uses 5nm technology from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. That’s also the same company that produces most of AMD’s processors, chips for Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, some Intel chips, and many other products. Only a few factories in the entire world can produce chips with smaller processes, so when one of them has problems, it has ripple effects throughout the entire supply chain. Many other crucial factories are in mainland China, which is still in a trade war with the United States. That’s why it’s important to build more factories in more locations around the world and CHIPS Act gives companies money to build factories in the US.
The American Iron and Steel Institute has welcomed House and Senate passage of the CHIPS Act. AISI said “We applaud passage by Congress this week of the CHIPS Act. This bill will promote much-needed investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing so that the microchips that are necessary for many essential products can be made in the US rather than being imported from overseas. In particular, this will help address the chip supply challenges faced by US automakers, thereby boosting the entire automotive supply chain, including the American steel industry. Steel currently makes up about 54 percent of the mass of the average North American vehicle, and the American steel industry is developing and supplying the advanced steel products needed by the American automotive industry as automakers transition to electric vehicles. We look forward to President Biden signing the CHIPS Act into law in the coming days.” The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is a bill that received bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and Senate. The final iteration passed in the House on 28 July 2022 with 243 votes in favor and 187 votes against. The main centerpiece of the CHIPS Act is the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Fund. The bill sets aside more than USD 52 billion in subsidies to support the development and adoption of secure and trusted telecommunications technologies, secure semiconductors, secure semiconductors supply chains, and other emerging technologies. That money is intended to fund the construction of semiconductor fabrication plants in the United States. The bill also aims to boost education and science work in the United States, including establishing multiple Carbon Materials Research Center locations, coordinating climate research between NOAA, NASA, and other agencies, improving STEM education programs, upgrading the Energy Sciences Network, and more. Over the past few years, semiconductor chips, which are required for all modern electronics, from smartphones to trucks, have been in short supply. Limited production capacity, growing demand for electronics, political disputes, and supply chain problems from the COVID-19 pandemic are all contributing factors. The shortage has led to graphics cards becoming hard to find, car makers leaving out some features in new cars, rising costs for some computer components, and other problems. There are many fabrication plants worldwide, but most of them can only manufacture larger node sizes, while smaller node sizes are more desirable for new products. For example, Intel processors from a few years ago like the Core i5-8250U were built on a 14nm process, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset used in the Galaxy S22 is built on a 4nm process. Smaller processes allow chips to run at higher speeds and improve power efficiency, crucial factors for modern electronics, especially portable devices. Apple’s M2 chipset, found in the new MacBook Air, uses 5nm technology from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. That’s also the same company that produces most of AMD’s processors, chips for Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, some Intel chips, and many other products. Only a few factories in the entire world can produce chips with smaller processes, so when one of them has problems, it has ripple effects throughout the entire supply chain. Many other crucial factories are in mainland China, which is still in a trade war with the United States. That’s why it’s important to build more factories in more locations around the world and CHIPS Act gives companies money to build factories in the US.
