The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that Texas Instruments – a semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas (you may have used their calculators in grade school) – will receive a $1.6 billion investment to help expand its operations. Representative and Senate hopeful Colin Allred (D-TX) claims the bipartisan Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act and his support of the bill allowed this grant to occur.
“The CHIPS Act is proof that when we work together we can do big things for Texas and our nation,” said Rep. Allred. “Texas Instruments has long been a stalwart of innovation and industry in our region, and this investment will help them create 2,000 manufacturing jobs, and thousands of construction jobs, all while cementing Texas as a global leader in the semiconductor industry. I am so proud to have supported the CHIPS Act, and I will keep working to ensure it continues to deliver for our state.”
Moreover, President and CEO of Texas Instruments Haviv Ilan credited the CHIPS Act as well for allowing growth for companies like his to flourish and expand in the United States of America.
“The historic CHIPS Act is enabling more semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the U.S., making the semiconductor ecosystem stronger and more resilient,” said President and CEO Ilan. “Our investments further strengthen our competitive advantage in manufacturing and technology as we expand our 300mm manufacturing operations in the U.S. With plans to grow our internal manufacturing to more than 95% by 2030, we’re building geopolitically dependable, 300mm capacity at scale to provide the analog and embedded processing chips our customers will need for years to come.”
Earlier this month, Allred introduced the bipartisan Stopping PRC Environmental Exploitation and Degradation Act (SPEED) Act. This bill would attempt to combat the “negative environmental, ecological, and public health effects of investments linked to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Africa.”
The bill aims to counter China’s influence in Africa as it has become the continent’s “largest trading partner, creditor, and source of foreign direct investment through the Belt and Road Initiative.” Rep. Allred believes this relationship between China and the African continent can be “destructive and harmful” to the environment through the Asian nation’s “debt-trap diplomacy” strategy.
