The Chips Act and National Security

ChinaTalk

After decades of neoliberalism, how much can America’s bureaucrats crank the dial on effective industrial policy? Will the CHIPS Act succeed at reshoring high-tech manufacturing?

Next week is the Chips Act’s second anniversary. To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed Ben Schwartz, the former director for national security at the CHIPS Program Office, which manages a $39 billion grant program appropriated by the CHIPS and Science Act.

We get into:

• The methods and obstacles for American semiconductor policy;
• How CHIPS Act guardrails aim to balance economic growth and national security;
• The negotiation process for companies interested in receiving CHIPS Act funding;
• Reshoring vs friend-shoring and the challenge of Chinese dominance in legacy chip manufacturing;
• Staffing and organizational structure of the CHIPS Program Office, plus the role of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo;
• The challenge of collecting data on secretive semiconductor supply chains.

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