CHIPS/FABS Act: Subsidies for Intel, opposition from Nvidia and AMD
In the USA, the Senate now wants to get the CHIPS Act and the FABS Act on the way – Intel is considered to be one of the big beneficiaries, since they allow themselves to manufacture their own products. Meanwhile, fabless companies like AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm are less enthusiastic.
Intel is currently able to collect subsidies worldwide because it has promised to build production lines. Magdeburg is a local example and in the USA one benefits from the CHIPS Act (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act) and the FABS Act (Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors), which the US Senate now wants to push forward after a long struggle. The Americans want to use it to promote the manufacture of semiconductors in their own country. A total of 50 billion US dollars in subsidies for American chip manufacturers are to be made available. There’s also an attractive package of 25% tax credit for new or equipped semiconductor plants in the US, estimated to be worth around $24 billion. The final document is not yet available, which is why the exact scope is still speculative. In any case, at the end of the day there is a desire to be more independent of Asia, especially the People’s Republic of China, when it comes to semiconductor products.
Intel: New chip factory in Magdeburg
Intel is considered to be one of the beneficiaries because they have their own production and it was not completely outsourced to the Far East. Plants are active in Hillsboro, Oregon, Chandler, Arizona and Rio Rancho, New Mexico and one plant is planned in Licking County, Ohio. Mask Operations is also maintained at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger names the move “a major step in protecting our national and economic security.”
This displeases the competitors, especially AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm. They get little from the subsidies and support, because they are all considered fabless. Nvidia and Qualcomm never had their own production and were always limited to chip design. AMD spun them off as global foundries and sold them to investors. They emphasize that the CHIPS and FABS Act only really helps a handful of companies – providing a high-level overview of US-based semiconductor plants, among others Wikipedia – whose operators would be profiteers. The two decrees are to be launched by the end of the month, as the summer holidays are in August.
Reference-www.pcgameshardware.de