On the recordFebruary 3, 2022
in the summer of 2020, the senior Senator from Virginia, Senator Warner, and I introduced the CHIPS for America Act to reshore semiconductor manufacturing here in the United States. I didn't know much about semiconductors when we got started, but I have learned a lot, and what I have learned is that this is an essential commodity that we have over time offshored to places like Asia that we need to reshore or bring back to America for our economy and for national security. Currently, 90 percent of the semiconductors in the world are manufactured in Asia. Sixty-three percent of the semiconductors in the world come from one place: Taiwan. If COVID has taught us one thing, it has taught us how vulnerable our supply chains can be. And the truth is, semiconductors have become so critical to our way of life, to our economy, and to our national security, to everything we do, that if that supply were blocked for some reason--either as a result of another pandemic or a natural disaster or, Heaven forbid, a military conflict-- it would be devastating to the United States and our economy and our national security. That is why, when our bill was introduced as an amendment to the Defense authorization bill, it passed 96 to 4. Clearly, we had strong, bipartisan support here in the Senate. It took less than 7 months from the time we introduced the bill until it became law, and then 6 months later, the Senate passed the U.S.…
