Trump likely to uphold CHIPS Act despite his campaign rhetoric, experts say
Illustration of the China and U.S. flag on a central processing unit.
Blackdovfx | Istock | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump is unlikely to roll back the Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act, despite his campaign rhetoric on the bill, experts say.
The legislation, which provides incentives for chipmakers to set up manufacturing in the U.S., became a point of contention in the final month of the election cycle.
Trump criticized the bill and its price tag. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, then said that his party “probably will” try to repeal the law. Johnson later walked the statement back.
Still, the key Biden policy, which has massive implications for Asian chips makers like TSMC and Samsung, is likely safe in the near term, according to chip experts.
Despite signaling he’s “not thrilled” about the bill, Trump is probably not going to roll it back, Paul Triolo, senior vice president for China and technology policy lead at Albright Stonebridge, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
“There’s support for this kind of onshoring of advanced manufacturing,” he added.
The Biden administration signed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act in August 2022, committing almost $53 billion to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research with the aim of boosting U.S. competitiveness with China.
The former president made headlines in October by attacking the legislation as a “bad” deal during a three hour interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan.
“We put up billions of dollars for rich companies to come in and borrow the money and build chip companies here, and they’re not going to give us the good companies anyway,” he said, arguing instead that his proposal to increase tariffs would attract chip companies for free.
The allocation of the CHIPS Act has been slow, with the lion’s share of the earmarked funds yet to be doled out.
So far, the bill has attracted Asian chip makers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung to build U.S. facilities. The two companies have already been offered $6.6 billion and $6.4 billion, respectively.
The largest CHIPS Act beneficiary has been the American chip maker Intel, which has been awarded $8.5 billion in funding.
While Trump may want to modify and change some of the priorities of the bill and its fund allocation, he’s expected to leave most of it intact.
The Trump administration will probably try to reinterpret the bill “so they can spread the money a little differently than Biden, but I don’t think they’re going to roll it back,” Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
Posen said that this would mirror what Biden had done by leaving Trump’s China tariffs in place when he took office, despite pivoting to a more industrial policy focused strategy.
“But I do think there’ll be much more expansion on the tariff front, rather than industrial policy expanding,” he added.
Chris Martin of Coldplay performs live at San Siro Stadium, Milan, Italy, in July 2017.
Mairo Cinquetti | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Astronomer‘s interim CEO said in his first public comment since unexpectedly taking over the role on Saturday that he hopes to move the tech startup past the viral moment that captured national attention last week.
Pete DeJoy was appointed to the top job due to the resignation of CEO Andy Byron, days after he was caught on video in an intimate moment with the company’s head of human resources at a Coldplay concert. Astronomer said over the weekend that it would begin a search for a new CEO.
“The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies — let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world — ever encounter,” DeJoy wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday. “The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.”
Byron was shown on a big screen at the concert in Boston on Wednesday with his arms around Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot. Byron, who is married with children, immediately hid when the couple was shown on screen. Lead singer Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” A concert attendee’s video of the affair went viral.
DeJoy helped start Astronomer in 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile, and had been serving as chief product officer since earlier this year.
In May, Astronomer announced a $93 million investment round led by Bain Ventures and other investors, including Salesforce Ventures.
“I’m stepping into this role with a wholehearted commitment to taking care of our people and delivering for our customers,” DeJoy wrote. He added that “our story is very much still being written.”
Astronomer is commercializing the open-source data operations platform Astro. DeJoy wrote that customers “trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects” and that “we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment.”
Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma Inc., after the morning sessions at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 11, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Design software company Figma on Monday published an updated prospectus for its initial public offering.
The company said it expects to sell about 37 million shares at $25 to $28 each. That would generate as much as $1 billion in proceeds, between the company and selling shareholders.
The IPO could value Figma, led by co-founder Dylan Field, a fully diluted valuation of $14.6 billion to $16.4 billion. Field plans to sell 2.35 million shares, which could be worth as much as $65.8 million.
In a 2024 tender offer, investors valued the company at $12.5 billion. In 2022, Adobe had agreed to acquire Figma for $20 billion, but the deal was scrapped after regulators objected.
The flow of technology companies joining U.S. exchanges has slowed since late 2021. Concerns over inflation and a recession made some investors less interested in backing fast-growing but money-losing companies.
But a few technology stocks have become available in recent months. CoreWeave went public in March, and Circle and Chime shares started trading in June.
Figma filed to go public on July 1, announcing plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FIG.”
On Monday, it provided preliminary results for the second quarter, showing $9.0 million to $12.0 million in operating income on $247 million to $250 million in revenue. That would imply year-over-year revenue growth of 39% at the low end and 41% at the high end. Growth in the first quarter exceeded 46%.
During the second quarter, Figma added clients and expanded business with existing ones. The company’s operating margin would be ticking up to 4% to 5%, up from 3% in the same quarter a year ago, based on the preliminary results.
Figma said it has authorized the issuance of “blockchain common stock” in the form of “blockchain-based tokens.” So far, though, Figma said it isn’t planning to issue this type of stock. In July, Figma disclosed investments in a stablecoin and a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
Mike Krieger, a co-founder of Instagram who is now chief product officer of artificial intelligence model developer Anthropic, has joined the board. Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, is also joining the board, according to the filing.
WATCH: Goldman Sachs’ Stephan Feldgoise on M&A landscape: One of the highest $10B+ transaction years YTD
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike