Several sources familiar with the matter reported that the Trump White House wants to renegotiate some of the terms in several CHIPS and Science Act awards, which could delay upcoming disbursements. According to Reuters, Washington wants to assess and change some of the requirements that the previous administration applied to the grant.
“The CHIPS Program Office has told us that certain conditions that do not align with President Trump’s executive orders and policies are now under review for all CHIPS Direct Funding Agreements,” GlobalWafers spokesperson Leah Peng told Reuters. CHIPS Act awards distributed under the Biden administration often came with clauses, like requiring awardees to only use unionized labor for building out their infrastructure and to provide childcare to their workers. While it’s not clear yet what the White House wants to do, it may seem that it’s intent on making these requirements more lenient or maybe even remove them altogether, especially if they do not go in line with the direction Washington is taking.
Because of this development, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is said to be surveying its members on how they think that the CHIPS and Science Act could improve. Nevertheless, SIA Vice President of Government Affairs David Isaacs told Reuters, “It’s important both the manufacturing incentives and research programs proceed without disruption, and we stand ready to work with Commerce Secretary Nominee Lutnick and other members of the Trump administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve our shared goal of strengthening U.S. leadership in chip technology.”
