2 huge chip makers warn of expansion delays as subsidies bill languishes

Intel postpones Ohio groundbreaking as Congress faces a do-or-die moment on legislation to provide $52 billion for domestic computer chip production

By Jeanne Whalen

and

Marianna Sotomayor

Updated June 23, 2022 at 2:05 p.m. EDT|Published June 22, 2022 at 12:21 p.m. EDT

Semiconductor chips are printed onto silicon wafers and loaded into containers at GlobalFoundries Fab 8 in Malta, N.Y., in June 2021. (Cindy Schultz for The Washington Post))

7 min

When the Senate passed a rare bipartisan measure last summer to spend $52 billion subsidizing computer chip manufacturing and research in the United States, it seemed like an easy legislative priority for both parties.

Chips were in such short supply that auto factories were shutting down for weeks at a time, threatening jobs and driving up prices. New cars became so rare that used cars soared in price, often exceeding what they had cost when they were new. Manufacturers of seemingly everything, from products as different as smartphones and dog-washing booths, complained they couldn’t get the chips they needed. The White House called several emergency meetings, and Republicans and Democrats quickly rallied.