The UK government still hasn’t published its semiconductor strategy. Meanwhile, the US has promised $52bn in subsidies for domestic manufacturing via the Chips and Science Act and the European Chips Act earmarked €42bn for companies building in the EU. Back home, nothing has happened, but, this might not be such a bad thing.
In the US, the industrial policies have had a positive effect. Companies have committed more than $200bn to US semiconductor and clean tech manufacturing projects in the past year. This is almost double what was spent in 2021 and 20 times the amount in 2019. This annoyed the Europeans, who were worried they had lost investment that instead chased US subsidies, and hence created a retaliatory policy.
A major beneficiary has been Intel. The US chip manufacturer has promised to build two plants in Arizona, two in Ohio and $17bn plant in Germany. For each of its US plants, Intel could receive between $2.5bn and $7.5bn in support. Meanwhile, it is set to receive €6.8bn from the German government, and Intel is pushing for this to rise to €10bn due to higher energy and construction costs.