Biden praises IBM's decision to launch investment worth $20 bln

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Oct 2022 00:23

Biden is still making it a priority to invest in high-tech despite that thousands suffered heavy losses during hurricane Ian in Florida.

Biden praised the investment from IBM as another stepping stone in his administration's strategy to rebuild the US innovative edge

A ceremony was launched by IBM at the Poughkeepsie facility in New York, on Thursday, in the company US President Joe Biden to celebrate the announcement of a $20-billion investment in semiconductors, quantum computing, and other cutting-edge technology.

"We are proud to announce that IBM is pledging to invest $20 billion across the region," said CEO Arvind Krishna alongside Biden at the Poughkeepsie facility, adding that the spending will take place over the next ten years.

"This investment includes breakthroughs in semiconductor technology, mainframe computers, quantum computers, and artificial intelligence," Krishna said.

Biden praised the investment from IBM as another stepping stone in his administration's strategy to rebuild the US innovative edge.

"It's here at this factory and the factories of other companies across America where America's future is literally being built," Biden said.

biden looks at a quantum computer at ibm pic.twitter.com/ZYWPfpVedO
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) October 6, 2022

But this is not the only major investment Biden has concluded so far.

Two days ago, Micron's announced a $100-billion investment in the manufacture semiconductors in New York.

Last month, Wolfspeed's pledged to spend $5 billion on a new semiconductor plant in North Carolina.

In early September, Biden visited the nascent site of Intel's future $20-billion facility in Ohio.

"We're better positioned globally than any time in a long time," Biden said, hailing the US investment climate created by "the most productive workers in the world," the "best research universities," dynamic venture capitalists and his administration's pushing through of the biggest federal infrastructure spending plans in decades.

On August 25, the White House announced the signing of an executive order to implement the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

The $280 billion industrial policy bill, which Biden signed into law two weeks prior, includes more than $52 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor manufacturers in an effort to counter China's technological prowess.

"The US has relied too heavily on foreign materials and bioproduction, and our past off-shoring of critical industries, including biotechnology, threatens our ability to access materials like important chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients," the White House said in a press release.

The initiative commits a total of $280bn to hi-tech manufacturing and research and is designed to increase the US’s competitiveness with China.

Global shortages of computer chips, prompted by the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, have caused production delays on a global scale for technology companies and other manufacturers.

In addition, the industry has gained increased geopolitical prominence as China accused the bill of threatening global supply chains and hampering international trade.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing "firmly opposed" the bill as it strikes as a "Cold War mentality."

Due to the global microchip shortage, the US economy lost last year $240 billion, and a war over Taiwan would be even more catastrophic for the US due to its reliance on one single supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

The US crackdown on the sale of technology to China has already begun to have an impact, with the US chip designer Nvidia disclosing last week that it had been told by US officials to stop exporting two top computing chips for artificial intelligence work to China.