Donald Trump, the President of the United States, announced his intention to repeal the CHIPS Act, enacted during the previous Joe Biden administration, in his first congressional speech since returning to the White House.
In his speech at the joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., on the 4th (local time), President Trump said, “Get rid of the CHIPS Act.”
He directed his comments to House Speaker Mike Johnson, stating that the funds should be used to reduce debt or be applied as desired for other reasons.
This statement came after mentioning that major tech and semiconductor companies such as SoftBank, Oracle, Apple, and TSMC have pledged significant investments in the U.S. following the inauguration of his second-term administration.
President Trump has been critical of the CHIPS Act, which provides subsidies to companies investing in the U.S., arguing that imposing high tariffs could attract investment without the need for subsidies.
Targeting foreign semiconductor companies, Trump said, “We will not give them money,” criticizing the CHIPS Act as terrible and meaningless, despite the U.S. having hundreds of billions of dollars. He pointed out that “they are not using our money.”
He emphasized that what matters to these semiconductor companies is not receiving money but not having to pay tariffs, adding, “We don’t need to give them money. They will come to invest because they won’t have to pay tariffs if they build (factories) in the U.S.”
He reiterated to House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican, Louisiana) that “you should repeal the CHIPS Act and use the remaining funds to reduce debt.”
The CHIPS Act, passed during the Biden administration in 2022 with bipartisan support, aims to strengthen semiconductor manufacturing and research in the U.S., providing approximately $280 billion (about 408 trillion won) in support. It includes offering around $52.7 billion (about 77 trillion won) in subsidies to companies like Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which conduct semiconductor research and production on U.S. soil.