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Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#21

Post by tdhz77 »

01100011 wrote: post #16

Such a monumental scam and a gross theft from taxpayers. Companies making billions of dollars in profits don't need free money. I could be onboard with a subsidized loan, but handouts are not needed. FWIW, I work at a company that stands to benefit from this bill. Does the US need to secure reliable semiconductor supply chains free of China? Sure. This is not the most cost effective way to do it.

Cost is not the only consideration. I fear for people who only focus on one issue and ignore the rest. Rarely do we see congressional leaders agreeing on this scale. I would say they find that reliance on China to be a threat to National Security. US and China communications is zero and even lower than it was during the Cold War. Pelosi story on visiting Taiwan should give you an idea of the stakes that are play. China siding with Russia should be the final consideration of the United States commitment to Democracy and people. Cost is really just one data point and should not be the only consideration. This concept can be applied to many more things, and I think you should rethink.

Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#24

Post by colechristensen »

01100011 wrote: post #16

Such a monumental scam and a gross theft from taxpayers. Companies making billions of dollars in profits don't need free money. I could be onboard with a subsidized loan, but handouts are not needed. FWIW, I work at a company that stands to benefit from this bill. Does the US need to secure reliable semiconductor supply chains free of China? Sure. This is not the most cost effective way to do it.

The opposite direction of motivation is to tariff semiconductor imports and still I doubt a quarter of a trillion dollars would be invested so fast.

Geopolitical issues forcing this aren't the fault of the semiconductor providers, decades of policy are at fault for letting the situation get this bad.

And to be fair future taxes will recoup some of this, as will the value provided to the state of an increased reliability of sourcing semiconductors.

It may not be the most cost-effective solution but it's the solution we need at this point because China isn't our friend and increasingly seems like won't be.

Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#25

Post by Alupis »

01100011 wrote: post #16

Such a monumental scam and a gross theft from taxpayers. Companies making billions of dollars in profits don't need free money. I could be onboard with a subsidized loan, but handouts are not needed. FWIW, I work at a company that stands to benefit from this bill. Does the US need to secure reliable semiconductor supply chains free of China? Sure. This is not the most cost effective way to do it.

Clearly, handouts are needed to force/incentivize these companies to build new fabs in the continental US. Otherwise they would have built them under their own gumption by now.

When there is no clear benefit for the company to fab chips in the continental US, and a lot of clear negatives (cost, regulations, etc) - you have to do something to outweigh the cons. If the US had been an amazing place to fab chips already, hand-outs would be completely unnecessary and we would already have a bustling chip fabbing industry. But... we don't.

Perhaps after handing out all this "free" money, lawmakers need to take a long hard look at why our chip fabbing industry has nearly vanished.

Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#26

Post by lettergram »

I disagree that subsidizing R&D to a few companies is going to make us more competitive.

Look at GE or Boeing, it didn’t work out.

What works is a free market. Raise import costs on CPUs and you’ll incentivize building in the US and more companies to form. It costs $0 tax dollars and brings in revenue and high paying jobs. Similar to what we did with car manufacturing.

Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#27

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

qaq wrote: post #19
01100011 wrote: post #16

Such a monumental scam and a gross theft from taxpayers. Companies making billions of dollars in profits don't need free money. I could be onboard with a subsidized loan, but handouts are not needed. FWIW, I work at a company that stands to benefit from this bill. Does the US need to secure reliable semiconductor supply chains free of China? Sure. This is not the most cost effective way to do it.

What would be a good way?

United States Semiconductor - aka spinning up a nationalized firm.

Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#29

Post by connicpu »

lettergram wrote: post #26

I disagree that subsidizing R&D to a few companies is going to make us more competitive. Look at GE or Boeing, it didn’t work out. What works is a free market. Raise import costs on CPUs and you’ll incentivize building in the US and more companies to form. It costs $0 tax dollars and brings in revenue and high paying jobs. Similar to what we did with car manufacturing.

Tariffs on products we don't have immediate domestic manufacturing capacity for will hurt the economy in the short term, which is not a great move during a period of rising inflation. It's a tough decision though, because it does feel like the better move for the long term.

Re: Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips

#30

Post by skywal_l »

qaq wrote: post #19
01100011 wrote: post #16

Such a monumental scam and a gross theft from taxpayers. Companies making billions of dollars in profits don't need free money. I could be onboard with a subsidized loan, but handouts are not needed. FWIW, I work at a company that stands to benefit from this bill. Does the US need to secure reliable semiconductor supply chains free of China? Sure. This is not the most cost effective way to do it.

What would be a good way?

Have the DOD force its suppliers to make their things in the US? Only allow them to import raw materials or low value manufactured elements. Just throwing ideas, might not be practical...
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