U.S. President Biden delivers a speech at the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20, 2024. Biden announced $8.5 billion in federal funding from the CHIPS Act for Intel to manufacture semiconductors in Arizona.
Rebecca Noble | Getty Images
CHANDLER, Ariz. — In the booming Phoenix metro area, Washington policymakers are making a rare bipartisan push to bolster national security amid a high-tech arms race with China, bringing with it a surge of enthusiasm for something more basic. : Employment.
$8.5 billion in new CHIPS and Science Act funding will help Intel build two semiconductor plants and upgrade an existing one in Chandler, 30 minutes southeast of downtown Phoenix, expected to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to the area .
“This is what this city needs — jobs,” said lifelong Chandler resident Alfred Garza, who said he has watched the city expand over the years, “to And gosh, they took away all the natural beauty.”
“I hope this helps the community because, look, this side of the city is still rundown,” he said. “I think Intel will be a good start.”
The tech giant already employs 13,000 people in the Phoenix area and the White House Arizona project predicted to create With 3,000 new manufacturing jobs added and at least twice as many construction jobs — matching the projected growth in Ohio, the second of four states, as well as New Mexico and Oregon, federal grants are helping Intel expand its chip business.
“Made in America is great — for me and others in our community,” Garza said.
It was a sentiment many local officials in Chandler were happy to talk about Wednesday.
“The Chip and Science Act creates tremendous job opportunities,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told NBC News, adding that its impact will extend beyond Intel’s own workforce. “This has also resulted in a variety of nearby restaurants opening and nearby service small businesses opening up and hiring their own workers.”
The tech giant already employs 13,000 people in the Phoenix area and the White House Arizona project predicted to create With 3,000 new manufacturing jobs added and at least twice as many construction jobs — matching the projected growth in Ohio, the second of four states, as well as New Mexico and Oregon, federal grants are helping Intel expand its chip business.
“Made in America is great — for me and others in our community,” Garza said.
It was a sentiment many local officials in Chandler were happy to talk about Wednesday.
“The Chip and Science Act creates tremendous job opportunities,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told NBC News, adding that its impact will extend beyond Intel’s own workforce. “This has also led to various nearby restaurants opening and nearby service small businesses starting to open and hire their own workers.”
“For thirty years, these supply chains have moved to Asia, and we suddenly realized we were no longer building them in the United States,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told NBC News on Wednesday. Pandemic-era chip shortage This highlights “the economic and national security impact of this critical industry.”
On March 20, 2024, US President Biden visited the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, USA.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
“I think the Chip Act is the most important piece of industrial policy legislation since World War II,” he said, noting that technologies from electric cars to the generation of artificial intelligence rely on semiconductors. “We want this industry here…it’s more important than the oil reserves have been in the last 50 years.”
But as the saying goes, all politics is local–even if it is also geostrategic.
“These are great jobs,” Kissinger said, noting that there are opportunities for pipefitters, welders, construction workers, wafer technicians and “the highest-end Ph.D.s who are inventing new molecules. But what supports them is The community.” “It’s school teachers, police officers — it’s great for the economy.”
In purple states like Arizona, which he won in 2020 Just over 10,000 votesBiden never misses an opportunity to promote economic development.
Speaking at an event celebrating the agreement on Wednesday, Biden said the Phoenix-area jobs spurred by the Intel grant would average more than $100,000 a year and that many would be unionized and would not require a college degree.
“This is change!” he declared.
Gadzooks Enchiladas and Soup founder Aaron Pool said he hopes the new chip factory, commonly known as the “fab,” will bring more diners to his restaurant chain after hybrid work reduced foot traffic.
“It’ll be popping up on Wednesday and then it’ll be a little quiet,” he said of the downtown Chandler location. “Bringing the wafer fab people here, I think we’re going to see that at some point.”
Todd Sanders, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, said expectations like Poole’s are common in the local business community.
“People know what’s going on,” he said. “Small businesses are looking for ways to be part of that ecosystem.”
On March 20, 2024, US President Biden took the stage to deliver a speech when visiting the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, USA.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
In addition to Intel, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC has also settled in Phoenix and plans to build a second U.S. semiconductor factory in the area. While the project has been delayed, the company also expects to receive CHIPS Act funding to support it.
According to statistics, the population of the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metropolitan area increased by approximately 200,000 from 2020 to last year Census estimates released last week. As the chip industry plans to expand locally, some residents worry the influx of well-paid workers could put pressure on inflation, which Poole said would be “brutal” for Gadzooks, citing rising costs for everything from labor to beef. Up.
“A lot of people are saying this is going to further drive up the price of housing and all goods,” he said. According to Zillow, rents in Maricopa County have increased 37% since 2020, while mortgages have increased 53% during the same period, according to Redfin.
“We’ve reached the point where we can’t raise prices anymore,” Poole said. “Consumers won’t allow it.” That leaves some area business owners in what he calls “holding mode,” waiting to see what happens next in the regional economy.
After soaring to 13% in the summer of 2022, 4 percentage points higher than the U.S. peak during the same period, Inflation in Phoenix has slowed to 2.2%, lower than the current national level of 3.2%. Poole said the city’s business climate has been “a little lethargic” since that roller-coaster ride.
Sanders remained optimistic, recognizing efforts to diversify the state’s business base and invest in infrastructure while minimizing “burdensome” regulations.
“I don’t know that companies moving here are going to cause inflation,” he said. Then he got back to the one thing on everyone’s mind: “I think what they’re going to do is create jobs.”
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