WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden signed legislation Tuesday for $52 billion in subsidies to the semiconductor industry, kicking off one of the largest industrial development programs the federal government has ever administered.
Flanked by scores of lawmakers, union officials, local politicians and business leaders, Biden feted the legislation as a core part of his economic agenda to incentivize investments in the American semiconductor industry and ease U.S. reliance on overseas supply chains for critical, cutting-edge goods.
The long-pursued legislation now appears set to spur the construction of more than a half-dozen big semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the U.S., providing more secure supplies of the tiny components that are so important to modern electronics that they are viewed as essential to national security.
The bill also authorizes tens of billions of dollars to support federal research and development and regional tech startups, which the administration hopes will lead to commercial breakthroughs in new fields such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
"Today is a day for builders. Today, America is delivering," Biden said Tuesday during a sweltering Rose Garden ceremony. "I honest to God believe that 50, 75, 100 years from now, people will look back on this week, they'll know that we met this moment."
Industry CEOs who attended the signing ceremony announced roughly $50 billion in new investments, lending additional significance to the first of several victories the administration plans to celebrate this week.
Micron Technology Inc. is leading the charge with a $40 billion investment in memory chip manufacturing in the U.S.