The U.S. Senate is considering including in a new bill to boost competitiveness $30 billion in funding for previously-approved measures to promote the country’s chipmaking industry, a congressional source told Reuters on Thursday.
Lawmakers aim to bring the package, which would include other elements to boost the U.S. tech sector, to a full vote in April, the person said, declining to be named because the legislation has not been finalized.
The source, who is involved in the effort, said that the [Sen. Charles] Schumer-led package is likely to have provisions curbing China’s access to U.S. capital markets, a focus of the Trump administration’s crackdown on Beijing.
Schumer said last month he had directed lawmakers to craft a new bill to boost U.S. competitiveness against China, based on legislation he and Republican Senator Todd Young proposed last year to provide funding of $100 billion to spur research in key tech areas, from artificial intelligence to quantum computing and semiconductors.
Schumer’s office also said the package could be used as a vehicle to provide emergency funding for the bipartisan semiconductor programs included in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which are still awaiting money.
MacDailyNews Note: Last May, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) announced a plan to build a multibillion-dollar chip plant in Arizona.