The chip industry has been lobbying Congress throughout 2021 to pass and fund the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act and today tightened the screws.
A letter signed by 59 top chip and computing executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, calls for prompt action to fund CHIPS and enact a strengthened version of the FABS Act that would include an investment tax credit for chip design and manufacturing.
The measures will improve the U.S. position in manufacturing in coming years, made especially apparent during the chip shortage throughout the past year, they noted.
Funding CHIPS and strengthening FABS will help meet the long-term challenge of a stable chip supply by “incentivizing semiconductor research, design and manufacturing in the U.S., thereby strengthening the U.S. economy, national security, supply chain resilience and increasing the supply of chips so important to our entire economy,” the letter says.
The Senate already approved funding for CHIPS and the House still needs to act.
The letter was sent to House and Senate leaders.
It isn’t the first time that prominent executives have called on Congress to act on the measures. In July, chip and auto and labor executives urged Congress to get moving on CHIPS. Auto executives have felt the current chip shortage the most of any industry, with global automakers predicting more than $100 billion in revenue losses in 2021 because of the difficulty getting access to needed chips.
One of the letter's signatories, Thomas Sonderman, president and CEO of SkyWater Technology, expressed the concern the industry feels about the congressional delays. In an email to Fierce Electronics, he said, “We recognize the broad set of policies that Congress must address everyday, but as the Senate has already passed this crucial legislation, it is now time for the House to get us across the finish line so that we can all work together to immediately begin the process of rebuilding our domestic supply chain, growing American manufacturing jobs, and re-establishing America’s prominence in this foundational technology, allowing us to effectively compete in the global economy, both today and well into the future.”
RELATED: Chip, auto groups urge Congress to get moving on CHIPS Act