Biden finalizes $6.6B chip grant to protect legislative win from Trump’s DOGE

The Biden administration said it finalized a deal to dole out a $6.6 billion grant to a Taiwanese semiconductor company as the president scrambles to protect a key part of his legacy from President-elect Donald Trump’s chopping block.

Under the agreement, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will receive the grant through the CHIPS and Science Act, a 2022 law aimed at boosting U.S. production of semiconductor chips.

The deal is part of a late dash to fork over CHIPS cash to semiconductor companies before Mr. Biden leaves office in January. Administration officials in the spring allocated $36 billion to several semiconductor companies, including Intel, Micron Technology, Texas Instruments and Taiwan Semiconductor.

The CHIPS and Science Act allocated $53 billion in federal funding to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S. instead of relying on China to produce them. It’s one of Mr. Biden’s signature legislative wins and one he has touted as critical to his legacy.

Mr. Trump has already suggested he intends to dismantle the CHIPS Act once he gets into office.

“That chip deal is so bad,” he told podcaster Joe Rogan last month. “We put up billions of dollars for rich companies to come in and borrow the money and build chip companies here. And they’re not going to give us the good companies anyway. All you had to do was charge them tariffs. If you were to put a tariff on the chips coming in, you would be able to [protect chip manufacturing.]”

Mr. Trump this week vowed to reduce wasteful spending by tapping Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency.

Experts say the CHIPS and Science Act would be ripe for cutting by the DOGE duo.

“They should be looking at the stuff the federal government is doing that should be in the purview of the private sector, all the corporate welfare. I’m talking about the CHIPS Act, farm subsidies, Amtrak, the Postal Service,” said Veronique de Rugy, who teaches political economy at George Mason University.

Under the deal announced Friday, Taiwan Semiconductor will use the funds to build three facilities in Arizona, spurring $65 billion in private investment and creating tens of thousands of jobs by 2030, the White House said. The first facility is expected to open next year.

“Today’s announcement is among the most critical milestones yet in the implementation of the bipartisan CHIPS & Science Act and demonstrates how we are ensuring that the progress made to date will continue to unfold in the coming years, benefiting communities all across the country,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.

While on the campaign trail this year, he repeatedly reminded voters of the law while noting that microchips are used in phones, cars, home appliances and more. He said the law will make the U.S. less reliant on foreign companies.