Johnson floats, then walks back repeal of bipartisan chip law Trump attacked

Republicans seek to “streamline” a law subsidising American chip manufacturing, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said, as he backtracked from saying they “probably will” try to repeal the programme that has generated US$400 billion in promised company investments.

Johnson was responding to a question about his stance on the 2022 Chips and Science Act, after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump last week called the programme “so bad”.

Asked whether he would seek to repeal the law if Republicans took control of Congress and the White House, Johnson told reporters during a campaign stop in upstate New York on Friday: “I expect that we probably will, but we haven’t developed that part of the agenda yet.”

Johnson, who voted against the Chips Act, quickly walked back his remarks and said the law is “not on the agenda for repeal”. Instead, Republicans could pursue legislation to “eliminate its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements”, he said in a statement circulated by congressman Brandon Williams, a vulnerable Republican candidate with whom he was campaigning.

The Chips Act set aside US$39 billion in grants – plus 25 per cent tax credits and billions more in loans – to revitalise American semiconductor manufacturing after decades of production shifting to Asia.

Companies have pledged to invest more than 10 times that in US factories, including new plants from all five of the world’s top advanced chipmakers. Micron Corp, the lone American maker of advanced memory chips, plans to spend at least US$50 billion to build factories in Williams’ district.