The Biden administration has already awarded tens of billions of dollars under the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, but the president Donald Trump His return to the White House led to speculation about the future of the projects.

In an interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience” in October, Trump criticized the legislation before the election, saying, “This chip deal is very bad.” The president criticized sending billions in taxpayer dollars to “rich companies” and suggested that imposing tariffs on chips made overseas would be a better way to move manufacturing to the United States.

Then-Intel CEO Brian Krzanich speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on February 8, 2017, in Washington. Krzanich announced that he would invest $7 billion to build a factory in Chandler, Arizona, to create an advanced semi-conch. (Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images)

GOP Speaker of the House Mike Johnson He told the press in November that Republicans would “probably” try to repeal the CHIPS Act, but quickly retracted his comments and later said in a statement that repealing the legislation was “not on the agenda.”

Last month, Claude Barfield, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote a scathing op-ed , saying, “At this point, it's impossible to know how serious Trump's opposition to CHIPS funding will be—he has often shown it during the campaign and when it was not followed through on.” .”

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“In any case,” Barfield continued, “(Trump's) potential cancellation of CHIPS semiconductor 'fab' funding is both dangerous and misleading.”

Barfield noted that the legislation has strong support from Republican lawmakers, particularly in states where CHIPS Act funding supports new facilities and jobs.

Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of the Trump 2024 Transition Team, speaks at a rally for former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024 (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

But Trump's nominee for the position of Secretary of Commerce Howard LutnickOutgoing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a staff meeting that she was determined to move forward with the program, according to a Bloomberg report last week, citing people familiar with the matter.

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For now, at least one chipmaker is confident that the Trump administration will continue to fund manufacturing projects in the United States, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ( TSMC ) CFO Wendell Huang recently told CNBC that the firm still expects to receive the $6.6 billion it was awarded. Building three facilities in Arizona.

Intel, the chief beneficiary of the CHIPS Act, mentioned the program when congratulating Trump on Monday's inauguration.

Industry watchers are waiting The CHIPS Act Staying in place under Trump 2.0, except for some possible tweaks.

Biden's major semiconductor push is quietly intertwined with DEI initiatives.

Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics and trade at the Cato Institute, told FOX Business that he estimates there could be subtle changes to the law's enforcement, but he sees major changes as unlikely.

President Joe Biden speaks at the Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona. Biden announced $8.5 billion in federal funding from the CHIPS Act for Intel Corp. to manufacture semiconductors in Arizona.

“If you go back to 2020 when TSMC made its first announcement in Arizona, Trump was a big cheerleader,” Lincicome said, noting that the first Trump administration worked behind the scenes to support TSMC's efforts. “It was before CHIPS, but it's basically the same thing.”

He pointed to Trump's primary focus on semiconductor manufacturing, his national security interest in chip manufacturing in the United States, and the fact that chip projects are located in politically important countries.

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“Put it all together, I don't see any major indicators of any change in the CHIPS Act,” he said. “You can see some changes in how the Biden administration implemented the law — you know, there were crazy things like mandating child care for construction workers, and there's some stuff with the DEI … and so you can see those things being pulled.”