What They Are Reading in the States: President Biden's 'Made-In-America' Vision Put in Action in Ohio and Across the Midwest

Cleveland Plain Dealer, Detroit News and Columbus Dispatch highlight Intel's $20 billion investment in new semiconductor factories in Ohio

Local news outlets across the Midwest are highlighting President Biden's push to ramp up American semiconductor manufacturing and today's announcement from Intel of a $20 billion investment to build two new semiconductor factories in Ohio. The facilities – which are the largest private sector investment in the history of Ohio – are expected to create 3,000 new jobs, and represent the power of President Biden's "Made-in-America" vision being put into action.

Today's announcement is the latest progress in a series of efforts by the Biden-Harris administration to ramp up domestic manufacturing and tackle near-term bottlenecks – especially with critical goods like semiconductors. Earlier this year, Samsung, Texas Instruments, and Micron announced $80 billion in investments in semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. These actions are going to help slow price increases, create good-paying manufacturing and construction jobs across the country, and strengthen our economy.

Here's a sampling what Americans are reading across the Midwest:

Cleveland Plain-Dealer: President Joe Biden calls Ohio's new Intel semiconductor plant 'a symbol of what America is all about'
[Sabrina Eaton, 1/21/22]

President Joe Biden on Friday applauded a newly announced Intel semiconductor chip factory outside Columbus as "a truly historic investment in America and American workers," that will help restore the industrial Midwest and "shows the world we're always going to fight for American workers."

"These facilities are a symbol of what America is all about," said Biden, who was flanked by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and both of Ohio's U.S. Senators in front of a backdrop that said "A Future Made in America." The group later headed to Ohio for a local announcement of the project without Biden.

"Ph.D. engineers, scientists, alongside community college graduates," Biden continued. "People of different ages, races, backgrounds working side by side. They're all working together to do the same thing, the most sophisticated manufacturing we have ever seen, a tiny computer chip the size of a stamp. They're showing what I've always believed: There is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity as a nation."

Construction will begin on a pair of factories in the Columbus area later this year and should finish in 2025. The $20 billion project will employ 3,000 workers and is expected to support jobs for an additional 17,000 people in fields like construction, engineering, entertainment and restaurants, according to state officials.

Intel says it eventually plans to expand the project when it's fully built out in 10 years. It could result in an additional $100 billion investment in Ohio that the company says would make it one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing sites in the world. Workers at the new plant will make an average of $135,000 a year, according to state officials.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with President Biden, federal and state governments to transform the turmoil of this time into a recovery that creates world-changing technology to improve the life of every person on the planet," Gelsinger said at the White House event.

Semiconductor chips are a vital part of consumer products, including cars, smartphones and medical equipment, and are essential infrastructure components, including the electrical grid and broadband. The United States' share of semiconductor chip production fell from around 37 percent three decades ago to 12 percent today.

Semiconductor supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic hindered the production of numerous products, including automobiles and contributed to price hikes. Biden made the encouragement of domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research and development a centerpiece of a national supply chain initiative he launched last February.

"The semiconductor industry was created in the United States of America, and it's time for us to lead again," Raimondo said.

A White House statement called Intel's announcement "the latest marker of progress in the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to ramp up domestic manufacturing for critical goods like semiconductors, tackle near-term supply chain bottlenecks, revitalize our manufacturing base, and create good jobs here at home."

Since the beginning of 2021, the semiconductor industry has announced nearly $80 billion in new U.S. investments, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. These include a $30 billion investment in Texas by Texas Instruments, a $17 billion Samsung factory in Texas, and a new Global Foundries factory in New York state.

Last summer, the U.S. Senate passed a bill called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which includes $52 billion in federal investments for domestic semiconductor research, design and manufacturing. Ohio Congress members from both political parties have urged the House of Representatives to act on the legislation to boost domestic semiconductor production.

Biden, Raimondo and Gelsinger used the White House event to champion the legislation's passage.

"I want other cities and states to be able to make announcements like the one being made here today," said Biden. "And that's why I want to see Congress pass this bill right away and get it to my desk. Let's get another historic piece of bipartisan legislation done. Let's do it for the sake of our economic competitiveness and our national security."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Democrats who control the House of Representatives will soon introduce their own competitiveness bill that will "supercharge our investment in chips, strengthen our supply chain and transform our research capacity, plus many other key provisions." She said Thursday that the House is "very close to being ready" to begin negotiations with the Senate to find a compromise between the House and Senate competitiveness proposals that will satisfy both legislative bodies.

Ohio members of Congress applauded Intel's announcement. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, released a statement that described how he spoke and met with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and other Intel executives several times over the past year to boost Ohio's prospects for the plant. He says he touted Ohio's well-trained workforce, energy infrastructure and available land in urging the company to invest in Ohio.

"While bringing thousands of high-paying jobs to Ohio, this historic investment will also help reshore semiconductor chip manufacturing, which has faced an international shortage over the past few years," said Portman. "U.S. dominance in semiconductor manufacturing has been dwindling for decades, and it's both an economic and national security concern."

A statement from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, said U.S. competitors like China spend billions of dollars to subsidize research and development, and also take U.S. ideas "and use them to compete - and sometimes cheat - against American workers and businesses.

"Today, we are burying the term 'rust belt,' " said Brown. "Intel's record investment in our state confirms what we already know: Ohio workers represent the vibrant, dynamic workforce who will lead our country into the future. This plant will mean 10,000 new, good-paying jobs, and it will position Ohio as the national leader in this critical, growing industry. We know how to speed up our supply chains, lower prices, and better compete with China: make more things in America – and there's no better place to do it than Ohio."

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from the Niles area who is seeking the U.S. Senate seat that Portman will vacate when he retires, called the plant announcement "a colossal victory for Ohio and for our entire nation," and said legislation to promote chip production "created an environment for Ohio to reap the investments from companies like Intel.

"Ohio is now ready to lead America into the competition of a lifetime with China," said a statement from Ryan, who has urged Biden to focus more of his message on the economy. "The ripple effect with businesses across Ohio will create jobs and opportunities for generations. We must continue to robustly invest in infrastructure, broadband, and education so that every Ohioan, in every part of the state, can seize the opportunities to come from this development."

The Detroit News: Biden pushes Congress to pass $52 billion for chip production
[Riley Beggin, 1/21/22]

President Joe Biden pleaded Friday for Congress to pass $52 billion in funding for semiconductor chip production amid an ongoing shortage that's driving up prices of cars, tech and other consumer goods.

Earlier Friday, Intel Corp. announced it would spend $20 billion to build a new chip production facility near Columbus, Ohio. The company's CEO, Patrick Gelsinger, joined Biden to tout the investment.

President Joe Biden speaks in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus in Washington, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. With the President are Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, left, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, right.

"I want other cities and states to be able to make announcements like the one being made here today. And that's why I want to see Congress pass this bill right away," Biden said.

"Let's do it for the sake of our economic competitiveness and our national security. Let's do it for the cities and towns all across America working to get their piece of the global economic package. And let's do it for the dignity and pride of this country and the American worker."

The speech followed weeks of meetings between Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and bipartisan lawmakers as the administration worked to rally support for the funding. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, on Friday announced in a letter to fellow Democrats that the House would soon be introducing its own version of the chip legislation, which passed the Senate last summer.

Approving the funding is a priority for many of Michigan's members in Congress and for major automakers, which have lost hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue and millions of units of lost production over the past two years due to the global, pandemic-induced chip shortage. Consumers have felt the impact as well, as new and used vehicle prices soared in 2021.

Supply chain problems exposed by the pandemic have pushed policymakers and businesses to explore ways to stabilize their chip sources. That stability is only expected to become more crucial for automakers as electric vehicles become a larger share of auto sales, because EVs require far more chips than gas-powered cars.

Gelsinger estimated Friday that chips will account for 20% of the total cost of a vehicle by 2030 as opposed to 4% today.

The administration has framed the spending as crucial for ensuring the United States can compete with its chief economic rival, China, on the international market. China has become a major global investor in research and development over the past several decades while the U.S. has fallen behind, Biden said.

"China is doing everything it can to take over the global market so they can try to out-compete the rest of us," he said. "We have a stiff economic and technological competition. ... We're going to invest whatever it takes in America, and American innovation, and American communities and American workers."

The auto industry has consistently pushed for speedy passage of the funding. Experts acknowledge it will take time for chip production facilities known as fabs to get up and running once the spending is approved, but industry advocates have argued any aid will ease the pressure and prevent similar shortages in the future.

"The automotive industry is working toward a cleaner, safer, and smarter transportation future," said John Bozzella, CEO for the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. "A sustained commitment to investing in and building additional domestic semiconductor capacity that meets the current and future needs of the auto industry in the United States is absolutely essential."

The Senate approved the $52 billion in funding last summer through the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a larger bill aimed at increasing competitiveness with China. The bill includes $2 billion set aside for "legacy" chips used by automakers, a provision pushed for by Michigan Sens. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing.

But it has stalled in the House, where some Republican members have argued it's not tough enough on China and other differences between the two chambers' priorities have prevented movement. Once the House introduces its version of the legislation, the two chambers will attempt to reconcile their differences, which Pelosi has expressed confidence is possible.

The Columbus Dispatch: President Joe Biden, Gov. DeWine tout Ohio Intel chip factory as win for American manufacturing
[Aubrey Wright and Mark Williams, 1/21/22]

The celebration of Ohio's biggest economic development project in history stretched from Washington, D.C., to Newark on Friday.

Local, state and federal leaders from President Joe Biden to Gov. Mike DeWine welcomed Intel's $20 billion investment to build two semiconductor plants on land that will be annexed into New Albany from Jersey Township.

"This is a major win for Ohio," Gov. Mike DeWine told about 200 people at the Midland Theatre in Newark, not far from where Intel is expected to break ground later this year. "It's really a game changer for our economic future."

For the first time, the state disclosed that the incentives it will provide to the Silicon Valley-based chip company likely will top $1 billion.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told the audience that incentives will cost the state 6 cents for every dollar Intel invests. For a $20 billion investment, that works out to $1.2 billion.

In return, Ohio will get 3,000 jobs paying an average of $135,000 per year, he said. There also will be 7,000 construction jobs and thousands of additional indirect jobs in the region.

"It's an investment that will likely pay dividends for generations," he said.

Investments Intel and other chip companies are making are meant to stem the global chip supply shortage that has left car lots empty and consumers struggling to buy appliances and other goods.

"Intel is coming to Ohio," CEO Pat Gelsinger said to applause. "This is our first major site announcement in 40 years. When we come to a site, we build for a long time."

In Washington, President Joe Biden commended the historic investment in American workers and said the project will foster economic and national security as the nation becomes more reliant on semiconductor chips.

The plants will establish America in the global market as a massive producer of semiconductor chips, which help power many digital and electronic devices, and will elevate the nation's status as a manufacturing power, Biden said. The new factories will also enhance American resilience against disruptions in the global supply chain and inflation, an issue that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened.

"To be able to say, 'Made in Ohio. Made in America.' What we used to always be able to say 25, 30 years ago. That's what this is about," Biden said. "We're going to stamp everything we can 'Made in America,' especially these computer chips."

As he did in Newark, Gelsinger urged Congress to pass the bipartisan Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, or the CHIPS Act, which would provide a $52 billion investment in semiconductor factories like those planned in Ohio and address long-term impacts of the semiconductor shortage.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with President Biden, federal and state governments to transform the turmoil of this time into recovery that creates world-changing technology to improve the life of every person," Gelsinger said in Washington.

Biden also pressured Congress to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill U.S. Innovation and Competition Act that aims to provide $90 billion to boost research, development, manufacturing and the supply chain in America. He said this act would continue the investment in the dignity and pride of the American worker.

"I want other cities to be able to make announcements like the one being made here today," Biden said. "Let's do it for the sake of our economic competitiveness and national security. Let's do it for the cities and towns all across America working to get their piece of the global economic package."