Biden Admin put DEI requirements for companies that receive money from the CHIPs Act

[OSR stands with Israel]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dei-killed-chips-act-000000900.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00

The Act contains 19 sections aimed at helping minority groups, including one creating a Chief Diversity Officer at the National Science Foundation and several prioritizing scientific cooperation with “MSI’s”—minority serving institutions. A section called “Opportunity and Inclusion” instructs the Department of Commerce to work with minority-owned businesses and make sure chipmakers “increase the participation of economically disadvantaged individuals in the semiconductor workforce.”

The department interprets that as license to diversify. Its factsheet “Building a Skilled and Diverse Workforce” asserts that diversity is “critical to strengthening the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem,” adding, “Critically, this must include significant investments to create opportunities for Americans from historically underserved communities.” The department does not call speed critical, although the impetus for the CHIPS Act is that 90 percent of the world’s advanced microchips are made in Taiwan, which China is preparing to annex by 2027, maybe even 2025.

Handouts abound. There’s plenty for the left—requirements that chipmakers submit detailed plans to educate, employ, and train lots of women and people of color, as rwell as “justice-involved individuals,” more commonly known as ex-cons. There’s plenty for the right—veterans and members of rural communities find their way into the typical DEI definition of minorities. There’s even plenty for the planet: Arizona Democrats just bragged they’ve won $15 million in CHIPS funding for an ASU project fighting climate change.

That’s going better for Arizona than the chips part of the CHIPS Act. Because equity is critical, the makers of humanity’s most complex technology must rely on local labor and apprentices from all those underrepresented groups, as TSMC found to its dismay. Tired of delays at its first fab, it flew in 500 employees from Taiwan, angering local workers by claiming they weren’t skilled enough. With CHIPS grants at risk, TSMC caved in December, agreeing to rely on those workers and invest more in training them. A month later, it postponed its second Arizona fab.

For instance, chipmakers have to make sure they hire plenty of female construction workers, even though only a million of the 11 million U.S. construction workers are women. They have to remove degree requirements and set “diverse hiring slate policies,” which sounds like code for quotas. They must create plans to do all this with “close and ongoing coordination with on-the-ground stakeholders.” They have to ensure childcare for female construction workers and engineers who don’t exist yet.

[OSR stands with Israel]

That’s going better for Arizona than the chips part of the CHIPS Act. Because equity is critical, the makers of humanity’s most complex technology must rely on local labor and apprentices from all those underrepresented groups, as TSMC found to its dismay. Tired of delays at its first fab, it flew in 500 employees from Taiwan, angering local workers by claiming they weren’t skilled enough. With CHIPS grants at risk, TSMC caved in December, agreeing to rely on those workers and invest more in training them. A month later, it postponed its second Arizona fab.

Sooo, the only relevant part I see here other than the usual GOP wolf-call about 'muh DEI' for daring to invest in minority owned businesses is that Biden also protected 500 Arizona workers from being outsourced. Amazing.

This is putting In requirements of who these companies must hire . Here is a quote from the article

For instance, chipmakers have to make sure they hire plenty of female construction workers, even though only a million of the 11 million U.S. construction workers are women. They have to remove degree requirements and set “diverse hiring slate policies,” which sounds like code for quotas. They must create plans to do all this with “close and ongoing coordination with on-the-ground stakeholders.” They have to ensure childcare for female construction workers and engineers who don’t exist yet.

This is an insane regulation put in that limits our ability to manufacture chips . The only string that should be attached is the minimum number of chips that need to be made and nothing else

[OSR stands with Israel]

That’s going better for Arizona than the chips part of the CHIPS Act. Because equity is critical, the makers of humanity’s most complex technology must rely on local labor and apprentices from all those underrepresented groups, as TSMC found to its dismay. Tired of delays at its first fab, it flew in 500 employees from Taiwan, angering local workers by claiming they weren’t skilled enough. With CHIPS grants at risk, TSMC caved in December, agreeing to rely on those workers and invest more in training them. A month later, it postponed its second Arizona fab.

Sooo, the only relevant part I see here other than the usual GOP wolf-call about 'muh DEI' for daring to invest in minority owned businesses is that Biden also protected 500 Arizona workers from being outsourced. Amazing.

This is putting In requirements of who these companies must hire . Here is a quote from the article

For instance, chipmakers have to make sure they hire plenty of female construction workers, even though only a million of the 11 million U.S. construction workers are women. They have to remove degree requirements and set “diverse hiring slate policies,” which sounds like code for quotas. They must create plans to do all this with “close and ongoing coordination with on-the-ground stakeholders.” They have to ensure childcare for female construction workers and engineers who don’t exist yet.

This is an insane regulation put in that limits our ability to manufacture chips . The only string that should be attached is the minimum number of chips that need to be made and nothing else

I'll be honest, I'm far less interested in the 'muh DEI' part of this conversation but rather what exactly are the 'skills' that TSMC can't teach to their American sourced workforce? As far as I've ever been aware the hangup is primarily with the fabricators themselves and I refuse to believe that there isn't a way to source and teach enough people in a state of 7 mi people, and not to mention I'm sure they could entice other Americans to move to AZ if they really needed a specific type of expertise.

The point of these investments should be to grow these skills here, so whatever hiccups we run into along the way the 'DEI' part of this article seems fairly spurious and considering the only thing I can find about the first author, Matt Cole, is that he also writes for the intercept (of Greenwald fame) I'm going to give it fairly little credence.

The point of this act is to ensure the US can produce as many semi conductors as possible domestically so we aren’t as reliant on Taiwan . It’s more of an national security issue than an economic issue and should be treated as such