According to a Bloomberg News report, the Biden administration is in talks to award more than $10 billion in grants to Intel. The news outlet cited anonymous sources familiar with the situation. Negotiations are underway, and it is expected that Intel's support package will include both loans and direct grants. The US Department of Commerce, which is responsible for disbursing CHIPS Act funds, and Intel have both declined to comment on the matter.
The department has already announced two smaller Chips Act grants, and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said earlier this month that her department planned to dole out more funding within two months from the government's $39 billion program to boost semiconductor manufacturing. The purpose of the semiconductor fund is to support chip manufacturing and related supply chain investments, and the awards will help build factories and increase production.
Intel plans to spend double-digit billions ($) to fund chip factories at longtime sites in Arizona and New Mexico, along with a new location in Ohio that the Silicon Valley firm says could become the world's largest chip plant.
But the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Intel planned to delay completion of the Ohio site until 2026 due to a slowdown in the chip market and a slow rollout of federal aid dollars. It remains unclear whether a wave of subsidies this year would speed up those plans again or those of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( 2330.TW ), which has also applied for U.S. financing and whose chip factory under construction in Arizona is been delayed.
Micron ( MU.O ) and Samsung Electronics ( 005930.KS ) are also building new chip factories in the United States and have applied for the program.