Why China Has U.S. Congress Focused on Computer Chips

A desire to spend more than $50 billion to bolster the US semiconductor industry seemed to be a rare point of bipartisan consensus in Washington. But legislation to carry out that initiative -- with the goal of increasing US competitiveness with China -- now faces an uncertain fate, caught in a larger struggle between Democrats and Republicans over spending.

Similar but not identical bills passed by the House and Senate would provide $52 billion over five years in emergency funding for semiconductor research and development, legacy chip manufacturing, packaging research and microelectronics development. (Legacy chips are frequently used in cars, aircraft and a variety of military hardware.) The vast majority of that money, $50 billion, would be distributed through a new fund overseen by the Commerce Department; the other $2 billion would be overseen by the Defense Department. On top of that, the House version authorizes $45 billion for grants and loans to support supply chain resilience and manufacturing of critical goods in the US. Both measures authorize billions more for research and development at the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.