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Biden administration announces $750 million investment in North Carolina chipmaker Wolfspeed
The Biden-Harris administration announced plans Tuesday to provide up to $750 million in direct funding to semiconductor developer and manufacturer Wolfspeed. The money will be used to support the company’s new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in advanced computer chips and its factory in Marcy, New York.
In addition to the government grant, a group of investment funds led by Apollo, The Baupost Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company and Capital Group plan to provide an additional $750 million to Wolfspeed, the company said. Wolfspeed also expects to receive $1 billion from an advanced manufacturing tax credit, meaning the company in total will have access of up to $2.5 billion.
Wolfspeed stock surged Tuesday on the announcement of the combined $1.5 billion in funding. Shares were up 3 points, or 30%, as of noon ET.
Wolfspeed’s use of silicon carbide enables the computer chips used in electric vehicles and other advanced technologies to be more efficient. The North Carolina-based company’s two projects are estimated to create 2,000 manufacturing jobs as part of a more than $6 billion expansion plan.
“Artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and clean energy are all technologies that will define the 21st century, and thanks to proposed investments in companies like Wolfspeed, the Biden-Harris administration is taking a meaningful step towards reigniting U.S. manufacturing of the chips that underpin these important technologies,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
The new Wolfspeed facility in Siler City could be a critical symbol in this year’s election, as it opened earlier this year in a swing state county that is undergoing rapid economic expansion in large part due to incentives provided by the Biden-Harris administration.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, is making the case to voters that the administration’s mix of incentives are increasing factory work, while former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, says the threat of broad tariffs will cause overseas factories to relocate in the United States.
In 2023, President Joe Biden spoke at Wolfspeed to promote his economic agenda, saying it would help the United States outcompete China. Trump narrowly won North Carolina during the 2020 presidential election and has talked about bringing back the state’s furniture manufacturing sector.
The Biden administration helped shepherd the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act through Congress amid concern after the pandemic that the loss of access to chips made in Asia could plunge the U.S. economy into recession. Lawmakers at the time expressed concern about efforts by China to control Taiwan, which accounts for more than 90% of advanced computer chip production.
The Biden-Harris administration’s argument is that the government support encourages additional private investments, a case that appears to apply to Wolfspeed.
Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe told The Associated Press that the United States currently produces 70% of the world’s silicon carbide — and that the investments will help the country preserve its lead as China ramps up efforts in the sector.
Lowe said “we’re very happy with this grant” and that the Commerce Department staff awarding funds from the CHIPS Act was “terrific.”
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These days, you’ll find Peggy Noonan in many places: in front of commencement crowds, at political round tables, and for the past quarter-century, in the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal. But when she was just starting out in Washington, D.C., you could find Noonan at the Off the Record Bar, near her job at the White House. “I would sit over there by myself, I would order a beer or a glass of wine, and I’d just quietly sit and read,” she said.
In 1984, Noonan joined President Ronald Reagan’s staff, after working at CBS in New York. At first, she felt like an outsider in the buttoned-up West Wing, but soon became an acclaimed speechwriter. Early on, she wrote Reagan’s moving speech for D-Day’s 40th anniversary.
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Then, when the Challenger shuttle tragically exploded, Noonan was given a tough assignment: write Reagan’s address to a distraught nation. “I had a feeling of, that didn’t work, nothing worked, because nothing was worthy of that moment; nothing was worthy of that day,” she said. “But then Frank Sinatra called – he called that night to the White House to say, ‘Mr. President, you just said what needed to be said.’ And Frank didn’t call after every speech!”
By the late eighties, Noonan had cemented a reputation as a wordsmith, and Reagan turned to her for his farewell address:
“We made the city stronger, we made the city freer. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.”
George H.W. Bush turned to Noonan, too, as he rallied Republicans on his way to the White House. “You know, part of life is luck,” she said. “It was not lucky to follow dazzling Ronald Reagan and be plainer, seeming sturdy George H.W. Bush. But I believe history was not – certainly in his time – sufficiently fair to him.”
That opinion is one of many found in the pages of her new book, “A Certain Idea of America,” a collection of her recent work (to be published Tuesday by Portfolio).
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Asked what her idea of America is today, Noonan replied, “Big, raucous, troubled, frayed.”
Noonan’s columns often delve into questions of character and leadership. “What I do not perceive now is many politicians who are actually saying, Guys, this is not good for the country. We’ve been given this beautiful thing called America. Shine it up! Keep it going!”
Costa said, “You have a lot of fun in this book, doing what you call taking the stick to certain people from time to time.”
“I don’t mind the stick at all,” said Noonan. “When I see something that I think is just awful, I love to get mad at it. I got mad at John Fetterman.”
“You don’t like that he’s wearing shorts?”
“It’s okay with me that he wears shorts,” she replied, “but he is not allowed to change the rules of the U.S. Senate to accommodate him in his little shorts and hoodie because he enjoys dressing like a child.”
Noonan, now 74, grew up in the Democratic strongholds of New York and New Jersey. “And I was very happy with that, because Democrats were cooler than Republicans,” she said. “Democrats were little Bobby Kennedy, and Republicans were, like, Dick Thornburgh!”
But in Reagan, she saw something fresh. “You looked at him, you saw his confidence, and it made you feel optimistic,” she said.
The Gipper, of course, no longer dominates the Republican Party, and President-elect Trump’s victory could transform the GOP even more in the coming years. “In terms of policy, the Republican Party has changed by becoming, not a standard, usual conservative party, but a populist party,” Noonan said. “Its issues have changed very much. But also, the edge of anger and resentment and, I’m afraid, a little paranoia that is in the Republican Party now would be something that Reagan did not recognize.”
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At the Off the Record Bar, the faces on the wall – caricatures of politicians of the past – and at the tables still catch her eye. For Noonan, it’s all part of the story – America’s, and her own.
Costa said, “In a way, you’re still the writer in the corner watching everybody at the bar in Washington.”
“Yeah, I like to watch them, she said. “They’re human, and you bring a little warmth to it, a little humor, and always bring your stick and smack them when you need to! It’s kind of nice.”
READ AN EXCERPT: “A Certain Idea of America” by Peggy Noonan
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Story produced by David Rothman. Editor: Joseph Frandino.
