U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that will create the United States Investment Accelerator Office within the Department of Commerce. According to theWhite House, it “shall focus on delivering the benefit of the bargain for taxpayers by negotiating much better deals than those of the previous administration.”
The order did not detail how this would affect already existing contracts and awards.
There were hints that Trump did not like President Biden’sCHIPS and Science Actstrategy to get semiconductor investments into the U.S. during his campaign. This became crystal clear in his first address to Congress in March, whenhe told the House Speaker to “get rid of the CHIPS Act”and spend the money for it to “reduce debt or any other reason you want to.”
Aside from this, the federal government staff purge hit the CHIPS Act office just a few days before the speech, with at leasttwo-fifths of the current staff reportedly terminated.
TheWhite House started reviewing CHIPS Act awardsin February; some people familiar with the matter said the new administration wanted to renegotiate the terms enforced under the deal to “align with President Trump’s executive orders and policies.” It’s still unclear how these reviews will affect CHIPS Act winners, but scheduled fund disbursements are expected to be delayed.
Still, it’s not all bad news for the semiconductor industry. The setting up of the U.S. Investment Accelerator office implies that the White House is seemingly continuing with the CHIPS Act and that companies that expect to receive subsidies aren’t going to be completely stiffed by the new administration.
Furthermore, the executive order also directs it to assist investors for efficiency, reduce regulations, increase access to and use of national resources, facilitate research, and reduce regulatory barriers to increase investment in the United States. This new office is designed not just to release new federal funding for semiconductor investments but also to use the existing frameworks in Federal law so that anyone investing in the U.S. can take advantage of them.
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Despite Trump’s criticism of the CHIPS Act, he still understands the importance of the semiconductor industry. He even hadTSMC announce an additional $100 billion investmentin its Arizona plant in the White House, while Congress introduced an act that wouldgive tax credits to chip designers. The current administration says that the most advanced AI chips will be built in the U.S., and the U.S. Investment Accelerator office will likely pave the way to help massive tech companies achieve that within its borders.
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
