- The CHIPS Act has directed over $25 billion in direct funding to Intel ($7.86B), TSMC ($6.6B), Samsung ($4.7B) and Micron ($6.1B), with those awards linked to more than $500 billion in private sector semiconductor investment across 28 states.
- TSMC’s first Arizona fab is scheduled to begin 4nm production in early 2025, but most CHIPS-backed facilities won’t reach volume output until 2028-2030, and any project that hasn’t broken ground by December 2026 forfeits the 35% Section 48D manufacturing tax credit entirely.
- The Department of Commerce awarded Natcast up to $6.3 billion in January 2025 to operate the National Semiconductor Technology Center, which is tasked with cutting prototype costs and addressing a projected shortfall of 67,000 skilled semiconductor workers by 2030.
US semiconductor manufacturing capacity fell from nearly 40% of global output in 1990 to 12% by 2022. The CHIPS and Science Act, signed in August 2022 with $52.7 billion appropriated for semiconductor initiatives, is the federal government’s answer to that slide, and three years in, the money is moving, the fabs are under construction, and the hardest questions are just arriving.
Where the Money Went
The Department of Commerce has finalised preliminary funding agreements with the four largest recipients. Intel secured up to $7.86 billion in direct funding, eligibility for $11 billion in loans, and a 25% investment tax credit on qualified investments exceeding $100 billion. TSMC received up to $6.6 billion in direct funding and potentially $5 billion in loans, tied to its commitment to build three fabs in Arizona totalling over $65 billion in investment. Samsung was awarded $4.745 billion to support a $37 billion project in Texas covering new foundries, R&D facilities and advanced packaging. Micron Technology received approximately $6.14 billion for leading-edge DRAM manufacturing plants in New York and Idaho, with total US investment commitments now approaching $200 billion.
Across all recipients, the Act has been linked to more than $500 billion in private sector investment across 28 states. The $39 billion manufacturing subsidy envelope within the Act was designed explicitly to de-risk commitments of this scale, building fabs is extraordinarily capital-intensive, and the funding agreements shift a portion of that risk onto the federal balance sheet.
New Fabs, New Nodes
Intel’s CHIPS-supported projects span several sites. Two advanced fabs in Chandler, Arizona will produce chips on its Intel 18A process node. Two further leading-edge fabs are planned for New Albany, Ohio. The company is also converting facilities in Rio Rancho, New Mexico into advanced packaging operations and expanding its Hillsboro, Oregon campus with high-NA extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment. Microsoft has announced plans to use Intel’s 18A process for custom chip designs, providing an early indication of commercial demand for that node.
TSMC’s Arizona complex is the most closely watched. The first fab is on track to begin 4nm production in the first half of 2025. The second will use 2nm nanosheet transistor technology, with production starting in 2028. A third fab, targeting 2nm or more advanced processes, is planned for later in the decade. Samsung’s $40 billion Texas investment targets 4nm and 2nm nodes for mobile, 5G, high-performance computing and AI applications. Micron’s New York and Idaho projects are aimed at bringing roughly 40% of its DRAM production onshore over the next two decades, including advanced High Bandwidth Memory packaging, directly relevant to the AI accelerator supply chain that has tightened considerably since 2022.
Research, Workforce and the NSTC
Fab construction is only part of the picture. The CHIPS Act allocates $13 billion for semiconductor research and workforce development, separate from the manufacturing subsidies. The centrepiece of that investment is the National Semiconductor Technology Center, a public-private consortium focused on R&D and prototype development. The Department of Commerce awarded Natcast up to $6.3 billion in January 2025 to operate the NSTC, with a mandate to cut the time and cost of bringing new semiconductor technologies to prototype stage.
The workforce gap is significant. The industry faces a projected shortfall of 67,000 skilled workers by 2030 across technician, engineering and computer science roles. Intel has committed $65 million from its CHIPS award specifically to workforce development. Without a parallel investment in human capital, new fabs risk being built faster than the industry can staff them, a constraint that several recipients have already cited in their project timelines.
Timelines and the December 2026 Deadline
TSMC’s Arizona delays illustrate the friction involved. The first fab’s production start was pushed to 2025, and the second from 2026 to 2027, with labour shortages and differences between Taiwanese and American engineering practices cited as contributing factors. Most CHIPS-backed facilities are not expected to reach volume production until 2028-2030.
The more pressing near-term pressure is the Section 48D Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, a 35% tax credit for qualified spending on advanced semiconductor facilities. It expires on December 31, 2026. Any project that has not begun construction by that date forfeits the credit entirely. That deadline is now less than 18 months away, and it is the clearest forcing function in the current phase of the programme. As of March 2026, semiconductor lead times had reached 40 weeks, with mature-node capacity still constrained, a reminder that supply chain relief will not arrive on the same timeline as the funding announcements.
Geopolitics and Jobs
The Act includes a 10-year restriction preventing funding recipients from expanding advanced semiconductor manufacturing in countries identified as national security concerns, China being the primary target. The condition was written into the awards to prevent federal subsidy from indirectly strengthening competing supply chains. It is the most explicit use of industrial policy as a geopolitical instrument in US technology law in decades.
On employment, estimates published as of March 2024 put the direct job creation from CHIPS-backed projects at between 25,000 and 45,000 positions. Intel alone projected more than 10,000 company roles and nearly 20,000 construction jobs. TSMC’s Arizona investment is expected to generate 6,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 construction positions. More than $36 billion in CHIPS Act funds had been allocated to named recipients as of November 2025. Whether the programme achieves its stated goal of tripling the US share of leading-edge semiconductor output by 2030 will depend as much on what happens in fabs over the next five years as on what was signed in the funding agreements.
