The Biden administration said Monday it would provide $35 million to BAE Systems to increase production at a New Hampshire factory making computer chips for military aircraft, including F-15 and F-35 jets.

This is the first allocation of incentives from last year’s bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which provides more than $52 billion to boost the development and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States.

The Commerce Department’s choice of a military contractor instead of a conventional chip manufacturer reveals the national security focus of the law, as more and more weapons systems depend on advanced chips that could be decisive in both preventing and fighting wars.

President Joe Biden signed the incentives into law in August 2022 partly out of concerns that a military attack on Taiwan could deprive the world of advanced computer chips and plunge the U.S. into a recession.

  • @jaybone
    cake
    link
    29 months ago

    What a coincidence.