Biden visits New York IBM amid $20 billion investment
By David Shepardson and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Thursday will tout IBM Corp’s plans to invest $20 billion in New York over the next decade in development and manufacturing of semiconductors, mainframe technology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
The announcement is the latest in a string of investments unveiled since Biden signed the Chips and Science bill in August that funded $52 billion to subsidize semiconductor chips manufacturing and research.
The administration says hefty subsidies for private businesses are necessary because China and the European Union had been awarding billions in incentives to chip companies.
Biden has sought to capitalize on the investment announcements ahead of next month’s midterm congressional elections. Last month, he traveled to Ohio to speak at the site of Intel Corp’s planned $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility.
New York’s Hudson Valley, home of IBM’s Poughkeepsie site, was a manufacturing powerhouse during America’s Industrial Revolution, but regional jobs dried up during the second half of the last century, as companies fled to lower-cost locations.
IBM, which laid off thousands of people in the region in the 1990s when it moved chip and other manufacturing, said it now plans to make the site “a global hub of the company’s quantum computing development, just as it is today for mainframes.”
IBM did not provide a detailed breakdown of its $20 billion investment plans.
The White House said it was sparked by Biden’s economic policies.
“The industrial strategy is really helping to drive a renaissance in American manufacturing, and domestic investment … that we haven’t seen in generations,” White House National Economic Director Brian Deese told reporters en route to the IBM site.
On Tuesday, Micron Technology said it would invest up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a semiconductor fabrication facility in New York that is expected to create nearly 50,000 jobs, with the first phase investment of $20 billion planned this decade.
Biden will visit will be joined by Chief Executive Arvind Krishna.
IBM said chips funding “will ensure a reliable and secure supply of next-generation chips for today’s computers and artificial intelligence platforms.”
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Heather Timmons and Matthew Lewis)
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