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AEM: investment will boost U.S. manufacturing competitiveness

A leader with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers says the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is a critical investment in U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.   

Kip Eideberg, the senior vice president of government and industry relations with AEM, says a reliable supply of semiconductors is critical to the industry’s ability to meet demand and expand in the U.S.

“What we’ve learned over the past year or so is that our ability to source semiconductors has been somewhat compromised by geopolitical events and so having a strong domestic supply of semiconductors is going to be incredibly helpful to our industry,” he says. “The CHIPS and Science Act, which we backed as an industry and worked hard to get across the finish line, will do that.”

He tells Brownfield it will take some time

“Some of these factories that are now being built that we hear about in Ohio and Texas, will probably take up to two years before they’re up and running. But the good news is that once they are fully up and running, it will have an immediate impact on equipment manufacturers’ ability to source semiconductors locally and quickly,” he says. “We still have a little bit of time left before we get to where we need to be, but we feel very good about what the next decade or so will bring in terms of our ability to get those semiconductors and continue to make equipment here in America.”

The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August.