The Biden administration is providing $162 million to Microchip Technology to support the domestic production of computer chips — the second funding announcement tied to a 2022 law designed to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.
The incentives include $90 million to improve a plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and $72 million to expand a factory in Gresham, Oregon, the Commerce Department said. The investments would enable Microchip Technology to triple its domestic production and reduce its dependence on foreign factories.
Much of the money would fund the making of microcontrollers, which are used by the military as well as in autos, household appliances and medical devices. Government officials said they expected the investments to create 700 construction and manufacturing jobs over the next decade.
It’s a pretty big logical leap. The Lada was a fully Russian made car, from the joint collaboration of the U.S.S.R.'s trade dept and Fiat. It’s got a history of being cheap, and was often made fun of by Americans, but was pretty well received by it’s target audience of the Eastern Bloc for being easy to repair. The company is still around, but these days their market niche is pretty well satisfied by Asian manufacturers like Hyundai and Kia, so you don’t really hear about them.
To take that story and go to “All state-funded manufacturing is bad and awful” is where it becomes insane.