Vice President tours the Hemlock Semiconductor Next-Generation Finishing facility in Hemlock, Mich., on Oct. 28, 2024.
Jacquelyn Martin
Vice President Harris toured a semiconductor plant in the swing state of Michigan on Monday to highlight big federal investments in manufacturing jobs that former President Donald Trump has recently panned.
The investments come from the CHIPS and Science Act — a bipartisan bill that's pouring $54 billion into the semiconductor manufacturing industry to try to bring back an industry that is dominated by Taiwan, South Korea and China.
"Look: we've got to win the competition for the 21st century. We're not gonna have China beat us in the competition for the 21st century," Harris said after touring a factory near Saginaw owned by Corning that makes polysilicon used in semiconductors.
The company received $325 million in CHIPS funding, and is nearly doubling its workforce to 3,000 people as it expands.
"These are the type of jobs that pay 40% above the regional median," Corning's chief executive Wendell Weeks said. "They help people build lives, raise families and foster strong communities."
The visit comes as some Democrats urge Harris to focus more on the economy in the waning days of the campaign.
Investments from the CHIPS Act have supported massive expansions of the semiconductor industry in Arizona — another swing state — as well as other regions of the country. The White House has said the projects backed by CHIPS funding have helped create more than 115,000 jobs.
Former President Donald Trump — seen here during a news conference on Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas, — did an interview last week with podcaster Joe Rogan, seen here in an Aug. 18, 2023 file photo.
AP
On Friday, Trump blasted the law during a lengthy interview on The Joe Rogan Experience. "That chip deal is so bad, Trump said on the podcast, saying the subsidies went to "rich companies."
Trump said he could have imposed tariffs to get more companies to built the facilities in the United States.