WATCH: Senator Kelly Speaks at TSMC Facility with President Biden
Today, Senator Kelly, chief negotiator of the CHIPS Act, joined President Biden at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company site in North Phoenix as the company announced that it will increase its investment in Arizona and build a second manufacturing facility there. That investment, made possible by the CHIPS Act, will bring thousands more jobs to Arizona and allow the company to produce the most advanced chips ever made on American soil, including for customers like Apple and Nvidia.
“For years, politicians have talked about bringing manufacturing and supply chains back to America. Well, we’re actually doing it,” Kelly said during his remarks. “That’s going to lower costs for Americans and strengthen our national security by ensuring that the most advanced chips do not need to cross an ocean to get here. Over the next few years, it’s also going to create tens of thousands of new, high-paying jobs – many of which do not require a four-year degree.”
Watch Senator Kelly’s remarks here, and see below for a transcript of his remarks:
Thank you, Madame Secretary, thank you for the introduction. Thank you everybody for being here, what a fantastic day today is.
Secretary Raimondo, you’ve been a terrific leader in these efforts to pass the CHIPS Act but also to see its goals become a reality.
Thank you for all of your hard work and welcome back.
And thank you everybody for joining us today.
Mr. President, we’re glad to have you here to mark such an exciting milestone for TSMC and for the State of Arizona. This is a big deal for Arizona! And it’s also a big deal for the entire country.
Today, the United States only manufactures about ten percent of the world’s microchips. And of the best chips in the world, we manufacture zero percent.
But today that is about to change.
And I’m excited for you and everyone here to see how Arizona is leading the way.
Because this is exactly what we envisioned when we worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass and fund the CHIPS Act: getting companies like TSMC, and their suppliers, to expand their operations in the United States of America.
Now, this facility will soon manufacture the most advanced microchips in the world, and it’s going to be done right here in our state.
For years, politicians have talked about bringing manufacturing and supply chains back to America. Well, we’re actually doing it.
That’s going to lower costs for Americans and strengthen our national security by ensuring that the most advanced chips do not need to cross an ocean to get here.
Over the next few years, it’s also going to create tens of thousands of new, high-paying jobs – many of which do not require a four-year degree.
Not too long ago I met a woman named Tarji. She was unemployed for over a year, she couldn’t find a job. She was out of work, she had three kids and she was looking for an opportunity and surprisingly she found in her spam folder an advertisement for a program at a community college here in our state, at Estrella Mountain Community College, called the Quick Start Program.
She started that program, which was ten days long, and at the end of the program she got an interview with a semiconductor manufacturer. And today she is a semiconductor manufacturing technician here in our state.
Now that story, because of this plant and the ones that will follow, will be repeated here thousands and thousands of times. This is such a win for our state. For folks who do not have a four-year degree, they will now be able to raise a family on that salary as a semiconductor manufacturing technician.
This is a win for the State of Arizona, for our universities and community colleges, but most importantly for our global competitiveness.
We’re on the road to a new future where the best chips in the world are made, from start to finish, right here in America. And that road runs through the state of Arizona.
So thank you everybody. Thanks for being here today for this exciting announcement.
