MALTA – GlobalFoundries hosted a summit in Washington, D.C. on Monday along with other industry suppliers and policymakers following the passage of the $52 billion CHIPS Act.
The bill – renamed the CHIPS and Science Act before final passage – was approved by Congress to help the United States re-establish the domestic computer chip manufacturing industry, along with its supply chain, much of which is now located abroad in Asia and Europe.
A chips shortage caused by supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors has forced automakers to curtail production, contributing to record consumer price inflation in the U.S.
The CHIPS Act will provide incentives to chip companies to build new factories in the U.S. GlobalFoundries is planning a second factory at its Fab 8 campus in Malta in connection with the passage of the CHIPS act.
The funding bill, which will also establish a national chip manufacturing lab that could be located in Albany, was also designed to combat China’s growing dominance of the chip industry, which is heavily concentrated in Taiwan, which China lays claim to.
The CEOs of GlobalFoundries, the Ford Motor Co. and Applied Materials, a company that makes manufacturing equipment used by chipmakers, all spoke at Monday’s summit.
Gary Dickerson, CEO of Applied Materials, which has major research operations at Albany Nanotech, said in a statement that the CHIPS Act “provides a catalyst for the industry to accelerate investments to make our supply chains more robust, speed up innovation and commercialization of next-generation technology, and create thousands of U.S. jobs.”
Top leaders from the National Economic Council and the National Security Council also participated Monday along with several dozen industry leaders.
