First CHIPS Act investment goes to New Hampshire plant making parts for fighter jets

The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday said that it would pay $35 million to BAE Systems to increase computer chip production at one of its New Hampshire manufacturing plants. The plant builds computer chips for military jets such as the F-15 and F-35, and the department said the investment would “quadruple” the plant’s output. Congress passed the CHIPS Act last year to declare the United States’ independence from the largely Chinese-owned international semiconductor manufacturing industry.

Will the CHIPS Act actually work? The Commerce Department said Monday that BAE Systems will be the first of many recipients of the more than $50 billion budget supplied by the CHIPS Act. The goal is to retain manufacturing for military and national security hardware stateside. The CHIPS Act received broad bipartisan support in Congress last year.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Angela Lu Fulton’s report about how the U.S. would defend Taiwan from a possible Chinese invasion.