Tester’s Bill to Bring Semiconductor Manufacturing Back to the U.S. Passes Senate with Unanimous Support

Senator’s bipartisan bill strengthens domestic semiconductor manufacturing, keeps the American economy competitive

The U.S. Senate last week unanimously passed Senator Jon Tester’s bipartisan legislation to bring manufacturing jobs back to America and keep the American economy competitive with foreign adversaries by making it easier to attract international semiconductor investment to U.S. communities.

“This bipartisan legislation is a win-win, bringing good-paying jobs back to rural America and maintaining our position as the world’s leading economic power,” said Tester. “We need to reverse the trend of outsourcing critical manufacturing to foreign countries like China, and that’s why this bill invests in rural America’s untapped potential to do just that. It’ll bolster domestic production to jumpstart the domestic semiconductor industry in a way that helps secure our nation’s economic future.”

The Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act would ensure communities have the support they need to successfully attract semiconductor investments into their local economies by directing the U.S. Department of Commerce’s SelectUSA program, a program designed to improve federal efforts that attract job-creating business investments, to engage with state-level economic development organizations about how they are attracting foreign direct investment to onshore activities related to semiconductor manufacturing. It also directs SelectUSA to identify what resource gaps or other challenges they face in achieving that goal. SelectUSA would then be required to develop strategies to increase investments in semiconductor manufacturing.

As a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Tester has been a champion of investing in technological innovation in rural America. Tester championed provisions in his bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to establish economic incentive programs to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. and invest in high-tech manufacturing across the country, strengthen technology supply chains, and bolster development of cutting-edge research.

He has also been the leader pushing to secure a rural Tech Hub in Montana, a designation that was won in October and will open the door for the state to compete for millions of dollars in new private and federal investment. He has also championed the fight to expand rural broadband access that will spur economic growth in frontier communities. Additionally, as the Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, he has made bolstering military technology development one of his top priorities.