BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SAYS NEW HAMPSHIRE COMPUTER CHIP PLANT THE FIRST TO GET FUNDING FROM CHIPS LAW

This would be the initial 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.

"We can't gamble with our national security by depending solely on one part of the world or even one country for crucial advanced technologies," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who called the investments a "oncein-a-generation opportunity to advance our national and economic security and create a thriving, long-lasting domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry.

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.