Preventing Semiconductor Corporate Greed Is Popular with Voters
By Abby Springs
Nearly all of the modern electronic devices we use today — from cell phones to medical equipment to automobiles — rely on semiconductors, microchips that allow our essential electronics to turn on when we need them.
Today, most of the world’s semiconductor chips are manufactured outside of the United States, primarily in China and Taiwan. However, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act aims to make the U.S. a world leader in the semiconductor market. The new law, which has the support of Democrats and Republicans, invests in producing semiconductors here at home, devoting over $200 billion to the research, development, and manufacturing of this crucial 21st century technology. The bill will lower costs, create jobs, and reduce our reliance on foreign nations for essential goods.
To achieve these goals, semiconductor companies will receive billions of dollars in government funding for American chip manufacturing. However, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has criticized the bill, arguing that it does not stop these corporations from using the funds to outsource jobs or enrich their own shareholders and executives.
New polling from Data for Progress finds that 78 percent of likely voters think it is important to explicitly prevent semiconductor companies from using taxpayer dollars to build factories in other countries like China. This includes 75 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents, and 83 percent of Republicans.
The five major companies that will receive the bulk of funding from the CHIPS and Science Act collectively earned over $70 billion in profit last year. Nearly three-quarters of voters think it is important to explicitly prevent semiconductor companies from using taxpayer dollars to benefit their corporate shareholders, including 73 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of Independents, and 76 percent of Republicans.
Prior Data for Progress polling finds that voters overwhelmingly agree on the importance of the domestic production of semiconductor chips. While the CHIPS and Science Act has already become law, voters across party lines are also in favor of additional protections to prevent semiconductor companies from using the funds to serve themselves and their shareholders, rather than the American people.
Abby Springs (@abby_springs) is the Press Assistant at Data for Progress.