House Passes CHIPS Act

President Biden signed into law the $280 billion CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act, a bill that would subsidize domestic semiconductor manufacturing and invest billions in science and technology innovation, in a bid to strengthen the United States’ competitiveness and self-reliance in what is seen as a keystone industry for economic and national security.

This is good news for the U.S. medical device industry. The law provides more than $52 billion toward semiconductor manufacturing over the next five years with $2 billion earmarked specifically for producing so-called legacy chips that are often used in medical devices. The Act sets aside a further $100 billion in funding for scientific research, a large portion of which will be disbursed by the National Science Foundation. It also cuts the time it takes to license a new chip-making facility from five years to 18 months.

The medtech applauded the law’s enactment and has urged chip suppliers to increase their allocation to medical device manufacturers who have seen high demand for life-changing connected devices.