Tag Archives: CHIPS

Blog: Progressive Democrats Call for Stronger CHIPS Subsidy Guardrails to Prevent Wasteful Stock Buyback Spending

Our report found that CEOs with preliminary CHIPS agreements are sitting on company stock holdings worth more than $2.7 billion ($306 million on average). In other words, these executives are positioned to reap huge personal windfalls from share price pops related to continued buyback spending. President Biden has spoken out repeatedly against wasteful stock buybacks and his economic agenda centers on an industrial policy to create good jobs and long-term prosperity, particularly for communities and workers who’ve been left behind. 

News Release: New Report Shows Need for Buyback Restrictions in CHIPS Program

The report from the Institute for Policy Studies and the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Maximizing the Benefits of the CHIPS Program, analyzes the distribution of the $39 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. It also examines the Biden administration’s initial steps to stop taxpayer money from going to share buybacks by granting preferential treatment to firms that agree to forgo all stock buybacks for five years.

Report: Maximizing the Benefits of the CHIPS program

AFREF, in partnership with the Institute for Policy Studies, has released a report on the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act’s $39 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing, and specifically on the Biden administration’s decision to grant preferential treatment in the awarding of these subsidies to firms that agree to forgo all stock buybacks for five years.

lawyer signing a document Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

Letters to Regulators: Letter in Response to the Department of Commerce’s RFI on the Implementation of the CHIPS Incentives Program

AFREF led thirteen partners in submitting a comment letter in response to a Department of Commerce request for information on the implementation of the CHIPS incentives program.  The letter describes how stock buybacks and outsized executive compensation packages undermine innovation and inclusive economic growth, and details the semiconductor industry’s track record of massive spending on stock buybacks and CEO compensation. It then recommends bright-line rules to restrict stock buybacks and executive compensation, as well as pro-worker policies that would promote innovation and inclusive economic growth.