COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — During his speech Tuesday, President Donald Trump called for repealing the CHIPS Act, which played a key role in Intel announcing its New Albany plant.
While discussing major tech companies making investments in America as opposed to opening plants overseas, Trump – in front of Vice President JD Vance, who hails from Ohio – said the act, which passed in a bipartisan vote during former President Joe Biden’s administration, was a “horrible, horrible thing.”
“We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn’t mean a thing,” Trump said. “They take our money and they don’t spend it.”
Signed into law in 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act is a $280 billion package aimed at sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and manufacturing, while minimizing the kinds of supply disruptions that occurred in 2021, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation.
At the time the CHIPS Act was passed, Vance called it a “a well-deserved victory for Ohio and Ohio workers” for Ohio’s future. Current Sen. Jon Husted, who was lieutenant governor at the time the act was passed, also vocally supported the act.
Intel is set to receive up to $7.8 billion in direct funding from the act, with the money going toward training, childcare availability near Intel facilities, and the CHIPS Women in Construction program.
“We don’t have to give them money,” Trump said. “We just want to protect our businesses and our people and they will come because they won’t have to pay tariffs if they build in America.”
Trump then directed Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to “get rid” of the act and use the money to “reduce debt or any other reason you want to.”
WATCH: Local strategists react to Trump’s speech
Intel announced last week that it was delaying the completion of the Mod 1 chip fabricator to between 2030 and 2031, with Mod 2 opening one year after that. When announced in 2022, the plant was projected to be online sometime in 2025.
The $20 billion semiconductor plant is the largest private investment in state history, and Intel says the two chip factories on 1,000 acres will create 3,000 high-paying jobs, 7,000 construction jobs and the potential of over 10,000 local long-term jobs.
When Trump wrapped up discussing the CHIPS Act during his speech, Vance joined Johnson and the Republicans in applauding the president’s remarks.