Washington — President Joe Biden is returning to mid-Michigan next week for an event promoting his recent legislative wins, including the package providing $52 billion in subsidies for the semiconductor industry, the White House confirmed Tuesday.
Biden’s Nov. 29 visit to Bay City is expected to include a stop at the semiconductor wafer manufacturer SK Siltron, which has two locations in Michigan, according to two Democratic sources.
The White House announcement said Biden “will discuss the progress we have made in the last two years, including by creating good-paying manufacturing jobs and building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”
The firm, which is a U.S. subsidiary of the Korean SK Group conglomerate, announced plans last year to invest $300 million and add 150 jobs with a new site in Monitor Township near Bay City that would support the manufacturing of electric vehicles.
Biden’s travel to Michigan would be his first since he attended the Detroit auto show in mid-September. The president made five visits to Michigan in 2021.
Biden was supposed to travel to Hemlock in Saginaw County on Aug. 2, coinciding with the state’s primary election. That trip was canceled after the president was diagnosed with a rebound case of COVID-19.
At that time, the White House had said the president would give a speech about the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act “and its impact on American manufacturing, good-paying jobs, and economic and national security.”
After he recovered, Biden in August signed the CHIPS bill, which directs $52 billion in subsidies and $24 billion in tax credits for the computer chip industry, as well as authorizing $100 billion over five years for research programs through the National Science Foundation.
The legislation followed two years after U.S. automakers started feeling the effects of a global shortage of chips, causing companies to cut shifts and store vehicles until enough chips were available to sell them, contributing to higher prices vehicles. The legislation included $2 billion set aside for “legacy” chips used in autos and defense applications.
The U.S. produces only 12% of the world’s microchips , while about three-quarters of the world’s chip manufacturing capacity is in east Asia.
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The SK Siltron subsidiary has said its facility near Bay City would manufacture silicon-carbide wafers from which chips can be made. SK has said these wafers are up to 13% more efficient than regular silicon wafers and can handle a higher voltage and current that is needed for the manufacturing of electric vehicles.
Staff writers Riley Beggin and Breana Noble contributed.
mburke@detroitnews.com