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| The Biden administration unveiled rules Tuesday for its “Chips for America” program to build up semiconductor research and manufacturing in the United States, beginning a new rush toward federal funding in the sector. |
| 周二，拜登政府公布了“美国芯片”(Chips for America)计划的规则，从而开启对该行业的新一轮联邦拨款热潮。该计划追求在美国建立半导体研究和制造能力。 |
| The Commerce Department has $50 billion to hand out in the form of direct funding, federal loans and loan guarantees. It is one of the largest federal investments in a single industry in decades and highlights deepening concern in Washington about America’s dependence on foreign chips. |
| 商务部将以直接资助、联邦贷款和贷款担保的形式发放500亿美元。这是几十年来联邦政府对单一行业的最大投资之一，凸显了华盛顿对美国依赖外国芯片日益加深的担忧。 |
| Given the huge cost of building highly advanced semiconductor facilities, the funding could go fast, and competition for the money has been intense. |
| 考虑到建设高度先进的半导体设施的巨大成本，资金可能会很快花完，而且资金竞争一直很激烈。 |
| Here’s a look at the CHIPS and Science Act, what it aims to do and how it will work. |
| 让我们来看看《芯片和科学法案》的目标以及它如何运作。 |
| Funding chip production and research |
| 资助芯片的生产和研究 |
| The largest portion of the money— $39 billion — will go to fund the construction of new and expanded manufacturing facilities. Another $11 billion will be distributed later this year to support research into new chip technologies. |
| 资金中的较大部分——390亿美元——将用于资助制造设施的新建和扩建。今年晚些时候将拨发余下的110亿美元，以支持对新芯片技术的研究。 |
| The bulk of the manufacturing money is likely to go to a few companies that produce the world’s most advanced semiconductors — including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology and, perhaps in the future, Intel — to help them build U.S. facilities. |
| 大部分用于制造的资金很可能会发放给几家生产世界最先进半导体的公司，帮助它们在美国建立设施，这些公司包括台积电、三星电子、美光科技，未来还可能包括英特尔。 |
| Some will go to makers of older chips that are still essential for cars, appliances and weapons, as well as suppliers of raw materials for the industry and companies that package the chips into their final products. |
| 一些资金将流向旧芯片制造商，这些芯片对汽车、电器和武器仍然是必不可少的。还有一些将流向该行业的原材料供应商和将芯片封装成最终产品的公司。 |
| While some critics have questioned the wisdom of giving grants to a profitable industry, semiconductor executives argue that they have little incentive to invest in the United States, given the higher costs of workers and running a factory. |
| 虽然一些批评人士质疑向盈利良好的行业提供资助是否明智，但半导体高管辩称，鉴于工人和运营工厂的成本较高，他们没有动力在美国投资。 |
| The administration does not plan to fund entire projects: Biden administration officials say they plan to offer grants of between 5 to 15 percent of a company’s capital expenditures for a project, with funding not expected to exceed 35 percent of the cost. Companies can also apply for a tax credit reimbursing them for 25 percent of project construction. |
| 政府不打算为整个项目提供资金：拜登政府官员表示，他们计划为一个项目提供占公司资本支出5%至15%的资金，预计不会超过项目成本的35%。公司还可以申请税收抵免，以报销25%的项目建设费用。 |
| Limiting foreign dependence |
| 限制外国依赖 |
| Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, describes the program as foremost a national security initiative. |
| 商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多将该计划描述为最重要的一项国家安全举措。 |
| While the United States is still a leader in designing chips, most manufacturing has been sent offshore. Today, more than 90 percent of the most technologically advanced chips, which are critical for the U.S. military and the economy, are produced in Taiwan. That has prompted concerns about the supply’s vulnerability, given China’s aggression toward Taiwan and the potential for a military invasion of the island. |
| 虽然美国仍然是芯片设计领域的领先者，但大部分制造已转移到海外。技术最先进的芯片对美国军事和经济至关重要，如今这些芯片90%以上都是在台湾生产的。考虑到中国对台湾的挑衅以及军事入侵该岛的可能性，这引发了对供应脆弱性的担忧。 |
| At the same time, China has increased its market share in less advanced chips that are still critical for cars, electronics and other products. The United States manufactures 12 percent of chips, though none of the world’s most advanced. |
| 与此同时，中国在先进程度不高的芯片市场份额有所增加，这类芯片对汽车、电子产品和其他产品仍然至关重要。美国制造了12%的芯片，但没有世界上最先进的。 |
| Chip shortages during the pandemic forced factories to halt work and brought home in a tangible way how vulnerable the supply chain is to disruption. Workers at Ford Motor factories in Michigan and Indiana worked a full week just three times last year because of a chips shortage, Ms. Raimondo said in a speech at Georgetown University last week. That helped create a car shortage and raise the price of cars, stoking inflation. |
| 大流行期间的芯片短缺迫使工厂停工，并让人们切实感受到供应链多么容易受到干扰。雷蒙多上周在乔治敦大学的一次演讲中表示，由于芯片短缺，密歇根州和印第安纳州福特汽车工厂的工人去年只有三周的工时是完整的。这导致了汽车短缺并提高了价格，从而加剧了通货膨胀。 |
| The Commerce Department says the program will also provide the Department of Defense and the national security community with a domestic source of the world’s most advanced chips. |
| 商务部表示，该计划还将为国防部和国家安全界提供世界上最先进芯片的国内来源。 |
| Building chip hubs |
| 建设芯片枢纽 |
| According to Ms. Raimondo, the goal is to build at least two U.S. manufacturing clusters to produce the most advanced types of logic chips, as well as facilities for other kinds of chips, and complex supply networks to support them. |
| 雷蒙多称，计划目标是在美国建立至少两个制造集群，以生产最先进类型的逻辑芯片，以及其他类型芯片的设施和支持生产这些芯片的复杂供应网络。 |
| Commerce officials have declined to speculate where these facilities might be, saying they must review applications. But chip makers have already announced billions of dollars in plans for new investments around the United States. |
| 商务部官员拒绝推测这些设施可能的位置，称他们必须对申请进行审查。但芯片制造商已经宣布了在美国各地进行新投资的数十亿美元计划。 |
| TSMC, which produces most of the world’s leading-edge chips, has been busy expanding in Arizona, while No. 2 Samsung is growing in Texas. Micron, which makes advanced memory chips, has announced big expansion plans in New York. And Intel, a U.S. technology giant that is investing heavily to try to capture a technological edge, has broken ground on a “megasite” in Ohio. |
| 尖端芯片世界产量第一的台积电一直忙于在亚利桑那州扩张，排名第二的三星则在得克萨斯州发展。制造先进存储芯片的美光公司已宣布了在纽约州的大规模扩张计划。美国科技巨头英特尔正在大力投资以试图占据技术优势，已经在俄亥俄州破土动工建造“巨型工厂”。 |
| Still, there is skepticism about how much the program can do. One 2020 study, for example, found that a $50 billion investment in the industry would increase U.S. market share only to 14 percent. |
| 尽管如此，人们对该计划能起到多大作用持怀疑态度。例如，一项2020年的研究发现，对该行业进行500亿美元的投资只会将美国的市场份额增加到14%。 |
| Protecting taxpayer funds |
| 保护纳税人资金 |
| The stakes are high for the Biden administration to prove this foray into industrial policy can work. Critics have argued that the federal government may not be the best judge of winners and losers. If the administration gets it wrong, it could face intense criticism. |
| 对于拜登政府来说，证明这种对产业政策的尝试可行事关重大。批评者认为，让联邦政府来评判是输是赢恐怕不合适。如果政府没做好，可能会面临强烈的批评。 |
| The Commerce Department said it would look closely at companies that applied for funding, to try to ensure that they were not being given more taxpayer dollars than they needed. |
| 商务部表示将密切关注申请资助的公司，以确保它们获得的纳税人资金不会超过它们所需。 |
| In a decision that may irk some companies, the department said projects receiving grants would be required to share a portion of any unanticipated profits with the federal government, to ensure that companies gave accurate financial projections and didn’t exaggerate costs to get bigger awards. |
| 商务部的一项决定可能会让一些公司感到不快。该部门表示，获得资助的项目若存在任何非预期的利润，需要与联邦政府分享一部分，以确保公司给出准确的财务预测，不会为了获得更多的经费而夸大成本。 |
| The Commerce Department also said it would dole out funding over time as companies hit project milestones, and give preference to those that pledged to refrain from stock buybacks, which tend to enrich shareholders and corporate executives by increasing a company’s share price. |
| 商务部还表示，经费会随着企业达到的项目里程碑来逐步发放，并优先考虑那些承诺不进行股票回购的公司。股票回购由于会提高股价，往往给股东和公司高管带去更多的财富。 |
| Companies are also barred from making new, high-tech investments in China or other “countries of concern” for at least a decade, to try to ensure that taxpayer money does not go to fund new operations in China. |
| 受到资助的公司在至少十年内不允许在中国或其他“受关注国家”进行新的高科技投资，以确保纳税人的钱不会用于资助在中国的新业务。 |
| But analysts said it remained to be seen how difficult it would be to enforce these provisions. Company finances can be opaque, and when a company saves a dollar in the United States, it may then choose to invest it elsewhere. |
| 但分析人士表示，执行这些规定的难度还有待观察。公司财务可能不透明，当一家公司在美国存下一美元时，它可能会选择将其投资到其它地方。 |
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