By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday she hopes to announce the first chips funding award announcements from the government’s $39 billion semiconductor subsidy program this fall.
“I am moving as fast as I can but it’s more important to get it right than move fast,” Raimondo said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing answering questions about the program created by Congress in August 2022. “I hope we will have some chips funding announcements this fall.”
It is not clear how long from initial announcements it will take the Commerce Department to finalize funding agreements. The Department has received more than 500 statements of interest from companies in 42 states.
Separately, Raimondo said she supports legislation that would give the Commerce Department new tools to address information and communications technology supply (ICTS) chain concerns posed by China and other foreign adversaries.
“We need that to have a comprehensive approach to go after connected apps,” Raimondo said.
Raimondo backed legislation introduced by Senators Mark Warner and John Thune and 24 other senators in March called the Restrict Act that would grant the Commerce Department new authority to review or block a range of transactions involving foreign that pose national security risks like TikTok.
Raimondo also said she supports a separate similar bill that is being drafted by Senator Maria Cantwell called the Guard Act.
Concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok have sparked new efforts in Congress to boost powers to address it or potentially ban the popular short video sharing app but those bills have stalled. TikTok, which has more than 150 million U.S. users, denies it improperly uses U.S. data.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Diane Craft and Marguerita Choy)
