Lawmakers consider expanding Oregon CHIPS fund after state undersubscribed grants

Salem — At a March 19 meeting of the House Committee on Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, Business Oregon officials and industry witnesses urged lawmakers to expand and retool the Oregon CHIPS Fund after the original program failed to spend all of the money aimed at semiconductor manufacturers and suppliers.

The Oregon CHIPS Fund “did allocate … $240,000,000 for primarily for direct incentives for semiconductor manufacturers and suppliers,” Shannon Carney, advanced manufacturing program coordinator at Business Oregon, told the committee. She described 21 awards across two rounds, with “just under $148,000,000” dispersed to date and 10 active agreements, plus two expected to close soon.

Why it matters: lawmakers, state economic development staff and local officials warned that Oregon risks losing projects to faster-moving states unless the legislature makes the program more flexible. Representative Daniel Winn, chair of the committee and sponsor of House Bill 2,277, proposed removing the requirement that state awards be tied to applicants for the federal CHIPS Act and extending the period in which the governor and Business Oregon can make awards.

Business Oregon and the governor’s office defended the program’s initial impact while outlining the problem that left money unspent. “One key element of the program is that companies had to be actively engaging. They had to be applying to the federal CHIPS Act, in order to be eligible for this program,” Carney said. That federal tie, she and others said, excluded many smaller Oregon suppliers and startups…