$8 Billion for Intel Won’t Fix America’s Chip Problem: Editorial

Since its enactment in 2022, the Chips and Science Act — a $280 billion splurge intended to revive US semiconductor manufacturing — has been at best a mixed success. A $7.9 billion grant to Intel Corp., announced by President Joe Biden’s administration last week, shows how this gravy train may be headed off the rails.

Boosting domestic chipmaking is a reasonable goal. Although the US leads the world in chip design, it accounts for only about 10% of global production. That has left American companies — and, more pointedly, the Department of Defense — heavily reliant on overseas manufacturers, especially in Taiwan, ...