TSMC and GlobalFoundries secure $13B in Chips Act funds ahead of Trump’s inauguration

In brief: The US has spent the last two years preparing to award chipmakers billions to help boost the country’s domestic semiconductor industry, which has lagged behind nations like Taiwan and South Korea. The US government is negotiating the last of the subsidies as the incoming Trump administration threatens the policy’s future.
Reuters and Bloomberg report that TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and another unnamed company have completed agreements to receive billions in Chips Act funds from the US government. The deliveries will likely be the last before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who is critical of the legislation.
Although the companies haven’t yet received the grants and loans, the US Commerce Department recently informed Congress that three companies will imminently receive the money. The amounts reflect prior agreements with TSMC and GlobalFoundries.
The government awarded GlobalFoundries $1.5 billion to construct a new semiconductor fab in New York and help expand the company’s Vermont operations. Meanwhile, TSMC secured a $6.6 billion grant and a $5 billion loan to build a fab for 2nm chips in Arizona.
Congress passed the Chips and Science Act in 2022, earmarking $280 billion for chipmakers who agreed to develop manufacturing facilities stateside. The program aims to reduce US dependence on South Korea and Taiwan for the most advanced semiconductors, partly because the latter is under potential threat from China.
Support from the program is contingent on limiting operations in countries considered adversaries like China and Russia. China criticized the Chips Act as a sign of outdated Cold War thinking, while TSMC and Nvidia have cast doubt on the government’s aims to eliminate technological interdependence.
Companies such as Micron, Polar Semiconductor, Samsung, BAE Systems, Texas Instruments, and Microchip Technology have negotiated for funds and loans from the legislation. Intel, the largest beneficiary, is set to receive $8.5 billion.
The Chips Act has boosted American electronics investments to historic highs. The country currently produces none of the world’s advanced semiconductors but could supply at least 20 percent by the decade’s end. However, an analysis earlier this year found that around 40 percent of the funding has suffered delays, some of them indefinite. Intel announced its award in March, but none of the money has reached the company yet.
Furthermore, upon entering the White House, President-elect Donald Trump won’t support new payments, having previously expressed his preference for tariffs over subsidies. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson initially voiced the party’s intention to repeal the Chips Act but later recanted.