Finance Associated Press, March 7 (edited by Huang Junzhi).According to congressional sources, the United States is ready to invest $3.5 billion in Intel Corp. so that the chipmaker can produce advanced semiconductors for military projects.
It is reported that the funds are included in a fast-moving spending bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday that will give Intel a dominant position in the lucrative defense market.
According to the report, the funds will last for three years and will be used for the "Secure Encl**E" (Secure Enclade) program. The funding comes from a $39 billion pool of Chips and Science Act grants designed to convince chipmakers to produce semiconductors in the United States. More than 600 companies have expressed interest in receiving the funding, according to the data.
The "Secure Enclature" is understood to be a secure coprocessor independent of the main processor and includes a hardware-based key manager to provide additional security. The key data is encrypted in the Secure Enclave System-on-Chip (SoC), which includes a random number generator. The Secure Enclave also maintains the integrity of its cryptographic operations, even in the event of a compromised device core.
In fact, it was reported in November last year that Intel was in talks with ** to get $3 billion to $4 billion in subsidies from the project. According to **, Intel will receive more than $10 billion in CHIPS Act incentives, including subsidies and loans.
"We are still evaluating the impact of the grant on the program," the Commerce Department said in a statement. The Department of Defense looks forward to continuing to work with Congress to implement the CHIPS and Science Act in a way that boosts our economy and the best of the best." The Senate is expected to pass the bill before Saturday's deadline.
At the same time, the Commerce Department is preparing to announce billions of dollars in incentives to advanced chipmakers such as Intel, as well as TSMC and Samsung Electronics. And all of these efforts are aimed at strengthening the ability of the United States to manufacture chips at home.
So far, the Commerce Department has announced three grants, including a smaller grant to BAE Systems, a company that spans the fire industry and aerospace equipment. In addition, a $1.5 billion grant was allocated to semiconductor foundry GlobalFoundries.
However, these efforts have also been questioned by some politicians. Last year, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Maria Cantwell, top Republicans and Democrats Roger Wicker and Jack Reed raised concerns about offering incentives to a company to build a secure quarantine plan that would cost more than it would cost to get the chips.