President Joe Biden announced $8.5 billion in funding for Intel factories that will make semiconductors in four states.

The investment is part of a Biden administraiton plan to dedicate billions of dollars in federal funds from his signature CHIPS and Science Act to bring semiconductor production back to the United States from Asia.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden announced a plan to invest billions of dollars in federal funds from his signature CHIPS and Science Act to boost semiconductor production in the U.S. 
  • Biden announced the investment at Intel’s Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Ariz., which is receiving $8.5 billion in federal funds to construct and expand facilities in four states: Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon 
  • The Biden administration’s CHIPS program office will also make $11 billion in loans available as part of the agreement
  • Intel President Patrick P. Gelsinger said the federal funding builds on $100 billion the company is investing over the next five years to increase semiconductor manufacturing

"If it was invented in America, it should be made in America," the president said at Intel's construction site in Chandler, Ariz., on Wednesday. "This is going to transform the country in a way you don't even understand yet."

Used in everything from cars and dishwashers to satellites and weapons systems, semiconductors were invented in the U.S., according to the administration, but less than 10% of the world’s chips are currently produced here. 

"We all remember that COVID provided us with an incredible wakeup call that shocked and disrupted our global supply chains," Intel CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger said Wednesday. "It choked our manufacturing lines. It kept essential products away from people when they needed them most, all because $1-2 semiconductor chips weren't available."

One of the world’s largest producers of semiconductor chips, Intel is investing $100 billion to construct and expand facilities in four states, including Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon. The Biden administration’s CHIPS program office will also make $11 billion in loans available as part of the agreement. 

The $8.5 billion federal investment in Intel will allow the company to make leading-edge semiconductors that are critical to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 6G communications, President Biden said. None of the world’s leading-edge chips are produced domestically. The president called the investment a means of "bringing the future back to America."

"Even though we invented the most advanced chips, we make 0% of the advanced chips," Biden said. "Nearly all manufacturing of chips moved overseas to Asia years ago." 

Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, signed in August 2022, contains $52.7 billion in subsidies to bolster domestic semiconductor production, along with a 25% tax incentive for investments in domestic chip investments worth roughly $24 billion. The bill received bipartisan support in Congress.

Last month, the administration set a goal for the CHIPS Program to produce 20% of the world’s leading-edge semiconductors domestically by 2030. 

Gelsinger said Intel's semiconductor production expansion will create 80,000 construction jobs. President Biden said the investment will also support 10,000 manufacturing jobs.

About $50 million of the Intel CHIPS funding will go to partnerships with community colleges, universities and other facilities to train and develop a local workforce.

Biden’s stop in Chandler comes during his three-day campaign swing to battleground states in the southwest. The president started his trip in Reno, Nevada, and Las Vegas on Tuesday before making his way to Arizona, where he also visited Phoenix. He will conclude his trip in Texas, stopping in Dallas and Houston.