Funding the CHIPS and Science Act is a national security imperative

A few months ago, we celebrated the signing of the CHIPS and Science Act. This landmark bipartisan legislation will supercharge U.S. semiconductor production and boost the next generation of technological research to maintain our competitive edge over authoritarian adversaries such as China. But our country’s work was not finished on that August morning. To fulfill the promise of the CHIPS and Science Act, Congress must move quickly to fully fund the bill.

We’re urging action not as former public officials who held the same position — one in a Republican administration, the other in a Democratic administration — but as Americans committed to strengthening our country’s technology preeminence, geo-political leadership and security. The reality we face as a nation and the free world is one of ever-increasing cyber and military threats based on ceaseless variations of intense technological competition.

Both sides of the aisle understand that China is playing the long game, and it is playing for keeps — a four-dimensional game of economic, military, diplomatic and cultural chess with little respect for rule of law, intellectual property, the environment or freedom of the press. Both of us agree that technology is at the intersection point where this game will be played out, and the United States can’t afford to cede our global leadership in critical technologies. It’s a national-security imperative.

Catalyst for private-sector investment

The fully funded CHIPS portion of the CHIPS and Science Act made a desperately needed investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, and the private sector responded in a big way. The $12 billion onshoring of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in 2020, which then-Under Secretary Krach’s team at the State Department used as a catalyst to design the CHIPS part of the bill, has increased to a $40 billion investment as of last week. Since that onshoring, $300 billion of investment (along with U.S. jobs) has been committed to securing our domestic semiconductor supply chain by companies such as Intel ($100 billion + $20 billion), Micron ($100 billion), Samsung ($17 billion), Skywater ($1.8 billion), and a significant list of ecosystem suppliers, with more on the way.

However, unlike the “CHIPS” portion, the “Science” part of the CHIPS and Science Act — which provides research and development investment and workforce training programs in critical security sectors such as quantum, cyber, artificial intelligence, 6G, biotech, robotics, hypersonics and autonomous vehicles — has not been funded and depends on congressional appropriations. The original strategic plan for the R&D funding portion revealed the same corporate compounding investment effects as realized from the CHIPS part of the bill. But that level of private-sector matching and investment in these vital technologies is merely a pipe dream unless Congress urgently steps in to appropriate the money.

‘Made in China 2025’ means ‘Not made in America’

America once led the world in long-term investments in research. Now we rank ninth globally in total R&D. Today, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Made in China 2025” (MIC 25) initiative targets 10 key tech sectors in which China seeks to dominate globally by 2025. Simultaneously, Beijing wants to become independent and decouple itself from foreign technologies. The central question for U.S policymakers should not be what is the cost of America investing in advanced technologies, but what is the cost of America not investing?

When it comes to our national security and protecting our freedoms, the value of our investments is enormous. Plus, this undoubtedly will reap rewards for U.S. taxpayers. Just look at NASA’s Apollo lunar-exploration program. Our $175 billion investment (in today’s dollars) put a man on the moon; the program not only led to American leadership in aerospace, computers and software but resulted in hundreds of spin-off products — from kidney dialysis machines to microelectronics. It’s still paying dividends.  

The Chinese Communist Party leadership likely fears a unified United States having its own “Sputnik moment” and committing to the equivalent of a moonshot. The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act is designed to do exactly that — take the technological momentum away from China and return it to the United States. As President Biden said, “It’s no wonder … the Chinese Communist Party actively lobbied against the CHIPS and Science Act.” That should tell you how consequential funding this legislation is.

In the near term, as the 117th Congress nears its end, the window for fully funding the CHIPS and Science Act is rapidly closing. In this high-stakes competition, there is nothing static about freedom — it can vanish in an instant — and there is no substitute for solidarity. As veterans of Republican and Democratic administrations, but as Americans above all, we implore congressional leaders to ensure technology advances growth and freedom, not authoritarianism. 

The clock is ticking. Status quo and failing to act is not in freedom’s favor.

Keith Krach led economic diplomacy as Under Secretary of State from 2019 to 2021. Robert Hormats held the same position from 2009 to 2013. Krach co-leads the Global Tech Security Commission, a bipartisan international coalition created to develop a global tech security strategy. He is joined by Hormats and six members of Congress from both parties as honorary co-chairs to lead the commission’s work.