When President Joe Biden signed the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act into law, aiming to boost America’s once-dominant microchip industry, he gave a special callout to Hemlock Semiconductor — a 63-year-old company in central Michigan that leads the nation in making a single, crucial high-tech material.
Biden held it up as an example of exactly what he wanted the new law to support.
“Nearly one-third of all the chips in the world use polysilicon made in Hemlock,” Biden said in a speech from the White House South Lawn. “Imagine if we had more of these kinds of factories across the country. This law will make that a reality.”
Now the administration is getting ready to unleash the law’s flood of tax breaks — estimated to be worth more than $25 billion over a decade. But instead of supporting Hemlock, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have proposed rules that would cut the company out. Lawmakers say Biden and the administration are not meeting the intent of the law.
That tension — between the aspirations of the law that Biden articulated on the South Lawn and the way his administration is implementing it— is fueling frustration within the president’s party in a crucial swing state. Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said he had raised concerns about the implementation of CHIPS in a direct conversation with Biden, as well as with other members of the administration.
“Chip-grade polysilicon manufacturers are essential," Peters told POLITICO. "I’ll keep fighting to ensure they receive the federal support.”
With the deadline for final rules approaching, the company has mobilized its supporters, including the popular governor of Michigan, to push the administration to open up the benefit more widely. Their argument highlights a key challenge of the fast-evolving Biden policy to bolster America’s role in a crucial global industry:........