Biden Signs CHIPS and Science Act

President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law on Aug. 8 during an hour-long ceremony on the White House lawn.

In his remarks , Biden said subsidy programs created by the law will help the U.S. compete with countries vying to attract semiconductor company investments, pointing specifically to China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union. He further argued the science budget increases recommended in the law will “ensure the United States leads the world in the industries of the future — from quantum computing, to artificial intelligence, to advanced biotechnology.”

Also delivering speeches were Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. A handful of Republican lawmakers attended the ceremony, including Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), who partnered with Schumer to draft and advance the legislation in the Senate, and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), whose state is hosting a major new semiconductor manufacturing complex built by Intel. In conjunction with the bill signing, the White House announced it plans to coordinate permits for “high-tech manufacturing” projects associated with the law through an interagency working group.

Among the law’s most immediate effects will be to create new programs at the Departments of Commerce and Defense to administer $52 billion in semiconductor R&D and manufacturing funds. However, many details remain to be worked out about the ultimate structure of these programs, including the location and form of a National Semiconductor Technology Center.

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology sent a letter to Biden on Aug. 9 with initial recommendations on how to spend the R&D funds provided by the law, ahead of a full report it plans to release this fall.

Beyond the “chips” provisions, which the law funds through mandatory appropriations, Congress will still have to fund much of the “science” portion through future appropriations. Science community representatives are now preparing campaigns to convince Congress to meet the law’s ambitious budget targets for science agencies, cognizant that appropriations for science agencies have fallen well short of authorized levels in the past.

Some elements of the law will have enduring effects regardless of the ultimate appropriations, such as its many research security measures as well as provisions that prescribe the scope of the National Science Foundation’s new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships.