Biden is giving Intel $8.5 billion for big semiconductor projects in 4 states

PHOENIX — President Biden is set to announce a deal with Intel that will give the chipmaker up to $8.5 billion in grants and another $11 billion in loans to build semiconductor plants in four states — the biggest announcement to date in his push to bring chips manufacturing back to America.

The funding comes from the CHIPS and Science Act passed by Congress in 2022 to pour more than $52 billion into projects to dramatically boost U.S. production of the tiny electronic devices found in everything from cars to cell phones to military weapons.

The deal with Intel — which is preliminary and still involves due diligence to finalize — will see the company invest more than $100 billion of its own money into the projects. Intel expects to offset that investment by claiming as much as $25 billion in investment tax credits, the company's CEO Pat Gelsinger told reporters.

These are the kinds of jobs Biden has been campaigning on

All told, the White House said the Intel projects will create nearly 30,000 construction and factory jobs. They are an example of the kinds of jobs he is campaigning on as he makes his pitch for a second term — jobs made possible by his brand of government intervention in the private sector, an industrial policy that had fallen out of fashion for decades.

Lael Brainard, Biden's top economic policy adviser, described the Intel investment as part of a breakthrough in U.S. manufacturing, noting the company had started out building semiconductors in the United States but later left for countries that chose to invest in the sector. The lack of a domestic industry and reliance on imports was to blame for price spikes and shortages of cars and appliances seen during the pandemic, she said.

Biden is announcing the