During his first joint address of his second administration Tuesday night to Congress, President Donald Trump told elected members they should roll back the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.
The federal law, signed by former President Joe Biden in August 2022, included billions of dollars with the intention of bringing semiconductor manufacturing back from overseas. So far, more than $32 billion in grants have gone out to subsidize private investment projects, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
“Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said Tuesday, pushing instead for additional potential tariffs. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn’t mean a thing.”
One of the biggest CHIPS Act benefactors is Intel, which delayed its Ohio groundbreaking around the time the now-law was being debated. Intel is set to get nearly $8 billion for projects in Ohio and elsewhere, $2.2 billion of which has been disbursed, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) said he believes those written agreements between the computer chipmaker and the federal government preclude its central Ohio project from being affected.
“I don’t know if he (Trump) came out against the CHIPS Act so much as he is coming out against any future legislation along that line, that may not be in his vision,” Schaffer said in an interview. “I have no concerns about what’s coming out of Washington.”
Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine, said in a text that Intel made commitments to its New Albany project in January 2022 regardless of CHIPS Act passage at the time.
Intel, he wrote, “remains committed to onshoring its manufacturing, which aligns with President Trump’s semiconductor strategy and onshoring strategy. Until a firm proposal moves through Congress, it is prudent to reserve comment until more details are known.”
A spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party condemned Trump’s comments in a statement.
“While Trump threatens our jobs, Elon Musk and fellow billionaires are only getting richer and our senators are too weak to really stand up for us. Ohio Democrats will always stand up to billionaires who would sacrifice Ohio’s economy for their personal gain,” the Wednesday statement read.
The increased CHIPS Act attention comes at a critical juncture for Intel. The computer chipmaker outlined another timeline delay on its central Ohio project Friday, punting the date to finish one fabrication plant to 2030 and the second to 2031. Neither will come online until at least 2031.
“If it’s delayed at all, then it’s delayed simply because of how they manage their capital, how they manage their assets and their customer expectations,” Schaffer said.
The state has already disbursed $600 million in onshoring grants for its venture. The Ohio Department of Development awarded Intel those onshoring grants, and set 2028 as the deadline for when it needs to meet its job and investment commitments to the state, according to department contract documents.
A department spokesperson wrote in an email last week that expectation remains unchanged.
