Intel Awarded Up to $8.5 Billion in CHIPS Act Grants for Facilities in 4 States

Intel will reportedly be awarded as much as $8.5 billion in federal grants related to the CHIPS Act, with up to $11 billion more in potential loans available. The funds are expected to be used for manufacturing and research facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon.

The White House revealed on Wednesday that Intel is in line to receive up to $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding, as the Biden administration pushes forward its effort to subsidize semiconductor manufacturing on U.S. soil, according to a report by CNBC.

Moreover, an additional $11 billion in loans from the CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act, which passed in 2022, could be granted to the company.

United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told reporters that the funding will help “leading-edge semiconductors made in the United States” keep “America in the driver’s seat of innovation.”

The agreement between the White House and Intel is reportedly nonbinding and preliminary, with the possibility to change.

While Intel has been a longtime and reliable entity developing chips in the U.S. semiconductor industry, the company has been surpassed in revenue by Nvidia, which is currently the leader in AI chips.

CPU competitor AMD and mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm have also surpassed Intel in market capitalization, or the total value of all a company’s stock shares.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), meanwhile, has dominated semiconductor manufacturing in recent years, which is a reason why Intel is expected to become one of the largest beneficiaries of the CHIPS Act, which seeks to encourage companies to establish facilities in the U.S. in an effort to stop potential supply chaos in case China ever decides to invade Taiwan.

Intel has said that it will be spending its government grants on building facilities and research centers in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon. The company says it wants to catch up as a leading-edge manufacturer by 2026.

The chipmaker company has also claimed it would create 20,000 jobs as a result of facility construction, and another 10,000 jobs in chip manufacturing.

Last summer, Intel announced it was opening an “innovation” plant in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen.

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