US chip bill which proposes more than $50bn in funding moves forward

The US Senate has moved forward with a bill which is hoping to alleviate global supply problems

The US Senate has voted to move ahead with proposed legislation which will see billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits pumped into the chip industry.

The Senate has backed, by a vote of 64 to 34, to begin debating on the bill which will attempt to ease the supply chain problems which have hit the tech industry hard since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is hoped that the legislation will decrease the reliance on Asia for semiconductor supply, with chip shortages hurting the world's biggest vendors and their resellers over the past couple of years.

News agency Reuters reports that Senate aides said the measures include around $54bn in subsidies for US semiconductor companies, as well as a new four-year 25 per cent tax credit to encourage companies to build plants in the United States estimated to be worth about $24 billion in total.

US president Joe Biden has made easing chip supply issues a priority since his election, with the White House earlier this year announcing plans to boost production in the United States.

Intel CEO Pet Gelsinger has also been outspoken on the need to lessen reliance on Asia for chips, with the company announcing in January that it would spend $20bn on a new factory in Ohio, which could grow to $100bn of investment in total.