Senate Passes $52 Billion CHIPS Act To Make U.S. Semiconductor Industry Independent Of China

The Senate voted on Wednesday to pass a $52 billion bill aimed at increasing semiconductor production.

“It’s a major step for our economic security, our national security, our supply chains and for America’s future,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said of the bill, titled the CHIPS Act, earlier this week.

“It will make historic investments to scientific research. It will take direct aim at our nation’s chip crisis,” the New York Democrat added.

The bill will head to the House and presumably to President Joe Biden‘s desk after that. If it passes, it will lessen U.S. reliance on other countries, like China, for manufacturing, which supporters say is important to ensuring national security.

“You cannot be dependent on only one country for such an important supply for cars and phones and everything we want to make going forward,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) said.

The funding, which is one of the largest tech investments in the U.S. to date, will go toward the research and development of semiconductors.