The U.S. Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation led by Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott and Democratic Senator Gary Peters, Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, and Jon Tester, also a Democrat, to strengthen federal efforts to expand domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips.
The Senators’ Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act, which was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, would direct the U.S. Department of Commerce’s SelectUSA program, in collaboration with other federal agencies and state economic development organizations, to develop strategies that would attract investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and supply chains. The senators’ bill would help address the ongoing global shortage of semiconductor technologies that have disrupted a range of industries in recent years.
“As Communist China’s influence in the semiconductor market continues to grow, it is beyond time to boost domestic production,” Florida Senator Rick Scott said. “It is clear more must be done to strengthen American manufacturers instead of propping up businesses in Communist China, and we must be laser-focused on keeping China out of our supply chains and economy. Producing American-made semiconductors is essential to that goal, and our Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act is a good place to start.”
Companion legislation led by Republican Representative Greg Pence and Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“In order to remain a global economic powerhouse in the 21st century, we must continue to build on the investments we made in the CHIPS and Science Act to boost U.S. production of semiconductor chips, which we know will dictate the future of technology and innovation,” Senator Gary Peters said. “My bipartisan bill would do just that by strengthening our efforts to attract investment in American semiconductor manufacturers as well as their suppliers, reducing our dependence on foreign producers for these critical technologies and creating good-paying jobs here at home.”
The SelectUSA program was established in 2011 to improve federal efforts that attract job-creating business investments in the United States and that support U.S. firms. The senators put forward this bipartisan bill after the Biden Administration later issued a report emphasizing that the SelectUSA program could be further leveraged to strengthen private sector investments across the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, in particular.
“The passage of this legislation in the U.S. Senate is a win for Tennessee manufacturers who rely on semiconductors to support local and global supply chains,” Senator Marsha Blackburn added. “As long as the U.S. continues to depend on Communist China for semiconductor production, our supply chain, economy and national security are all at risk. We need to encourage economic development with local leaders in order to identify resource gaps and address challenges faced by businesses in meeting their bottom line.”
“This bipartisan legislation is a win-win, bringing good-paying jobs back to rural America and maintaining our position as the world’s leading economic power,” Senator Jon Tester said. “We need to reverse the trend of outsourcing critical manufacturing to foreign countries like China, and that’s why this bill invests in rural America’s untapped potential to do just that. It’ll bolster domestic production to jumpstart the domestic semiconductor industry in a way that helps secure our nation’s economic future.”
The Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act would direct the SelectUSA program to engage with state-level economic development organizations about how they are attracting foreign direct investment to onshore activities related to semiconductor manufacturing, and identify what resource gaps or other challenges they face in achieving that goal. SelectUSA would then be required to develop strategies to increase investments in semiconductor manufacturing.
