The US Senate has voted for a financial package worth more than $200 billion to boost the technology sector’s competitiveness against the Chinese dragon .
The package aims to invest in the technology, research and Internet security sectors over the next five years.
This plan was considered a historical text to confront China economically, in a rare moment of understanding between Democrats and Republicans.
Local media reported that the bipartisan joint legislation provides about 190 billion dollars for allocations for technology promotion and research, and separately includes spending about 50 billion to increase production and research in the field of semiconductors and communications equipment, Anadolu Agency reported.
Competition
US President Joe Biden saluted the Senate for passing the Competition and Innovation Act, stressing that the United States is “in competition to win the 21st century.”
“As other countries continue to invest in their own research and development activities, we cannot be left behind,” he added, stressing the need for his country to maintain its position as the most innovative and productive country in the world.
China has been locked in an economic war with the United States since the era of former President Donald Trump, and it is one of the rare issues that the Democratic president pursued after his Republican predecessor. It enjoys broad consensus in Congress.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “The Senate has taken a decisive bipartisan step forward to make the investments we need to continue America’s legacy as a global leader in innovation.”
“This funding is not just about tackling the current shortage in semiconductors. It’s a long-term investment,” Raimondo said.
Warnings
Just before the vote, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that “if we don’t do something, our days as a dominant superpower may come to an end,” according to Agence France-Presse.
“That is why this text will be remembered as one of the greatest successes of Senate Republicans and Democrats in recent history,” Schumer added.
Schumer had previously considered that this bill paves the way for the largest investment in science and technology in generations.
He said: Whoever will win the race for future technologies such as artificial intelligence will be the global economic leader.
In contrast, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the plan, which “addresses key themes – from critical supply chains to intellectual property and counterintelligence – will help lay our strategic foundations for decades.”
Boosting local production
The Biden administration has been looking for months at ways to boost domestic production of a range of industrial components, such as chips, to reduce its dependence on foreign suppliers.
In February the president issued an executive order calling on federal agencies to look into the matter within 100 days.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken praised Congress’ action on Beijing, including this industrial action plan aimed at “strengthening the position of the United States.”
“Investments in our technology, investments in our people, investments in innovation and research and development, all of these combined are the way to confront China from a position of strength,” Blinken said.
For several months now, the global shortage of semiconductors, components that are mainly manufactured in Asia, has affected a large number of industries that depend on them, particularly the manufacture of automobiles and communications equipment such as smartphones, computer devices and electronic games.
Semiconductors include the materials themselves, most famously silicon, and the electronic components made from them, such as chips that allow electronic devices to capture, process and store data.
These components are essential to entire parts of the global industry, and are included in the manufacture of many of the tools we use on a daily basis from electronic and Internet-connected devices such as smart phones, computers, video game players, cars, especially control panels, aircraft, information and telephone networks, and others.