Trump wants to kill $52.7 billion semiconductor chips subsidy law

Trump wants to remove the CHIPS act by Biden that offers $52.7 billion in subsidies to semiconductor chip manufacturers.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday U.S. lawmakers should get rid of a landmark 2022 bipartisan law to give $52.7 billion in subsidies for semiconductor chips manufacturing and production and use the proceeds to pay debt.

"The CHIPS act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn't mean a thing. They take our money and they don't spend it," Trump said in a speech to Congress. "You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt."

The CHIPS and Science law signed by then President Joe Biden in August 2022 included $39 billion in subsidies for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and related components along with $75 billion in government lending authority.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has praised the program but said previously he wanted to review awards finalized during the Biden administration.

Under Biden, the Commerce Department convinced all five leading-edge global semiconductor firms to locate factories in the United States in the effort to tackle national security risks from imported chips.

In the final weeks of the Biden administration, the Commerce Department finalized more than $33 billion in awards including $4.745 billion to South Korea's Samsung Electronics up to $7.86 billion for Intel, $6.6 billion for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and $6.1 billion for Micron.

Some officials have expressed concern Trump could seek to invalidate binding grant agreements struck in the Biden administration.