National security issue: Biden backs computer chips "made in America"

The state-of-the-art computer chips for the US economy should no longer be produced in Taiwan or China, but in America itself. President Biden is demanding this. Since many weapon systems depend on it, the country’s security is ultimately at stake, especially with regard to China.

US President Joe Biden has described the production of state-of-the-art computer chips in the US as a national security issue in competition with China. At the laying of the foundation stone for a new chip factory for the US semiconductor company Intel in Columbus, Ohio, Biden said: “All of this is in our economic interest and it is also in our national security interest.”

In his speech, Biden referred to a new law with which his government will provide 52 billion dollars to boost US semiconductor production. “It’s no wonder the Chinese Communist Party has been actively lobbying US companies against this law,” Biden said.

But the competition with China is not just about economic issues. The USA needs modern technology “for the weapons systems of the future”, which are even more dependent on computer chips than before. “Unfortunately, we don’t produce any of these advanced chips in America,” the president complained.

Biden’s visit to Ohio was also a campaign appearance before the congressional elections in November. The state is part of the so-called “Rust Belt”, a region in the Northeast of the USA that has been suffering severely from the decline of the steel, auto and coal mining industries for decades. Ohio is also one of the classic swing states, where sometimes Biden’s Democrats win and sometimes the Republicans.

The midterm congressional elections come about halfway through Biden’s term. The House of Representatives and parts of the Senate are newly elected. So far, the Democrats have held the majority in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate there is a stalemate between Democrats and Republicans, which Vice President Kamala Harris, in her capacity as Senate Chairperson, was able to break in favor of the Democrats.

Should Democrats end up in a minority in either chamber of Congress, or even both, it would severely limit Biden’s ability to act in the second half of his four-year term.