Chip manufacturers cheered the re-introduction of the bipartisan Endless Frontier Act in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, praising its plans to invest more than $100 billion in technology R&D and development for critical technologies.
The SEMI trade group praised the act for helping ensure chip R&D and to create jobs. “At a time when the impacts of supply chain disruptions are creating headaches in many corners of the U.S. economy, we applaud the introduction of this timely legislation,” said SEMI CEO Ajit Manocha in a statement.
The act was first introduced in the prior Congress, but not acted upon. Its sponsors in the current Congress are Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Sen. Todd Young, R-IN, and Reps. Ro Khanna, D-CA, and Mike Gallagher, R-WI. They were joined by 12 other bi-partisan senators and five other bi-partisan members in the House.
In addition to calling for $100 billion to advance strategically important science and tech R&D, the measure calls for $10 billion for regional tech hubs nationwide and strengthening of the National Science Foundation with a $100 billion investment over five years.
Some of the same goals were named by President Biden in his $2.2 trilliion infrastructure plan, including $50 billion to bolster chip manufacturing in the U.S.
Biden “shares the co-sponsors’ commitment to making a bold investment in American innovation,” said Press Secretary Jen Psaki in a statement. “We look forward to working with Congress to further shape this legislation…”
The act was re-introduced one day after Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, joined other elected officials in New York calling on Biden to invest in U.S. semiconductor production and R&D that were authorized in the CHIPS Act, approved as an amendment to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
The Endless Frontier Act calls for an expansion of the NFS with a Technology Innovation Directorate to receive $100 billion over five years to invest in basic and advanced research and other programs focused on AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced communications, biotech and advanced energy. In addition, it calls for spending $10 billion for the Department of Commerce to create 10 regional tech hubs awarding funds for investment initiatives in new tech.
The NSF funding portion of the act won an endorsement from Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian who noted that the Endless Frontier Act joins the NSF for the Future Act “as a promising pathway to amplify the power of U.S. science and innovation to generate broad-based economic opportunity in all regions of the country.”
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