Trump administration reportedly eyes renegotiating CHIPS Act awards

The recipients of the US government's CHIPS and Science Act awards may not get the amount that they were initially promised. According to Reuters, the Trump administration is looking to assess and change the CHIPS Act's current requirements. After that, it's set to renegotiate some of the deals awarded by the Biden administration. It has also indicated a delay in some of the disbursements that are already scheduled, Reuters said. A spokesperson for Taiwan-based GlobalWafers said the company was notified by the program's office that CHIPS Act policies are under review because certain conditions do not align with Trump's executive orders. GlobalWafers is one of the program's awardees that was set to receive $406 million in grants. 

Former president Joe Biden signed the CHIPS Act into law in 2022 to boost semiconductor production in the US. While each awardee has different milestones they need to achieve in order to get grants, the goal is to get them to build new foundries and upgrade existing ones in the country. The Trump administration is reportedly concerned with many of the previous administration's requirements for recipients. They include clauses added into contracts by Biden's team, the news organization's sources said, including requirements to use unionized labor when building factories and to provide factory workers with affordable childcare. The White House also isn't happy that some of the companies, such as Intel, announced expansion plans in China after being chosen as a recipient.

The US government has yet to formally announce any changes to CHIPS Act policies, so it's not yet clear how extensive they will be and how previous deals will be affected. Bloomberg reported last year that the Biden administration rushed to finalize deals with recipients after Donald Trump won the presidential elections. Trump vocally criticized the program in the past, calling it "bad" and arguing that increasing tariffs would attract chip companies without the government having to award any grants.