The Senate planned to vote Tuesday evening on moving forward with a chips package that has broad bipartisan support. Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, helped negotiate with Republicans, and House leadership and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo remained in close contact with negotiators, members of Congress said.
Congress should act quickly to pass chips legislation, TechNet said Monday in response to Tuesday’s expected Senate vote to begin advancing the Chips Act and portions of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) (see 2207140067). Moving the smaller chips package is a “good step,” but Congress should work to pass other USICA measures like “investing in regional technology hubs across the country, enhancing STEM education programs, and attracting and retaining the world’s best and brightest talent,” said CEO Linda Moore. Democrats and Republicans are “hashing out” final details on a bill so “we can move forward with this week,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate Floor Monday. He urged conference committee members to continue negotiating the “larger jobs and innovation package that both sides have been working on for months” but said in the meantime Congress needs to “get chips done as soon as we can.”
Congress’ clash on spectrum legislation is expected to escalate just before lawmakers leave for the long August recess with a continued lack of bicameral consensus. House Commerce Committee leaders are eyeing potential floor consideration the week of July 25 of the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) the panel advanced Wednesday (see 2207130066). Senate Commerce Committee leaders haven’t signed on in support of HR-7624’s approach and are likely to hold a hearing the week of Aug. 1 on renewing the FCC’s spectrum auction authority and other matters the measure addresses. HR-7624 authorizes an FCC auction of up to 200 MHz on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band.
Congress shouldn’t leave for August recess without passing chips legislation and $52 billion in federal investment for semiconductor research and manufacturing, National Governors Association Chair Asa Hutchinson (R) of Arkansas and Vice Chair Phil Murphy (D) of New Jersey said Friday. The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also urged lawmakers to pass the bill. The Senate plans to vote Tuesday to begin advancing a smaller chips package (see 2207140067). The $52 billion Chips Act is “absolutely critical” to national security, the governors said. The mayors urged Congress to include the Chips Act, support for STEM education and an investment tax credit in the final bill. “Do not go home for August recess until you have passed the Chips Act, because I and others in the industry will make investment decisions,” Gelsinger said on CNBC Friday. “Do you want those investments in the U.S. or are we simply not competitive enough to do them here and we need to go to Europe or Asia? Get the job done.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a notice of inquiry Friday on "increasing the national standard for minimum broadband speeds and proposed setting a long-term goal for broadband speed," said a news release. The NOI would "kick off the agency’s annual evaluation of the state of broadband across the country." Rosenworcel proposed setting the national broadband standard at 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. “The needs of internet users long ago surpassed the FCC’s 25/3 speed metric, especially during a global health pandemic that moved so much of life online,” Rosenworcel said: “The 25/3 metric isn’t just behind the times, it’s a harmful one because it masks the extent to which low-income neighborhoods and rural communities are being left behind and left offline." If adopted, Rosenworcel's proposal would set the national broadband speed at 1 Gbps/500 Mbps in the future. The FCC in 2015 updated the broadband speed to 25/3 Mbps. Rosenworcel also proposed that the commission "consider affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access as part of its determination as to whether broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion." "We applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s announcement today that she is proposing to increase the national standard for minimum broadband speeds and to set a long-term objective as well," said NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. Incompas is "pleased" Rosenworcel took the "important first step toward increasing internet speed benchmarks, and we encourage the entire FCC to think bigger and bolder by setting gigabit goals," said CEO Chip Pickering: "The US invented the internet, but we have fallen behind China, Europe and other nations who have set much higher standards than are currently being proposed." “Ensuring that today’s internet speeds are sufficient for current and future use has been a persistent challenge in the urgent effort to bridge the digital divide," said a National Rural Electric Cooperative Association spokesperson. Friday's announcement is "a strong step in the right direction."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is telling senators to expect a floor vote as early as Tuesday to start moving a smaller chips package that would include, at a minimum, emergency chips funding and an investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing (see 2207130053), a source familiar with discussions told us Thursday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Wednesday they’re against passing the Senate’s chips package.
Advocates of a proposal to use the 12 GHz band for 5G told us they expect SpaceX to launch a late campaign opposing the change and think the FCC is still on a path to authorizing operations in coming months. Leaders of the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition say all signs are that the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology is fully engaged in working through the engineering and whether the band can be used for 5G without causing harmful interference to incumbents. OneWeb also raised concerns (see 2207120058).
The $52 billion Chips Act incentive package embedded in both the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and America Competes Act now before House and Senate conferees “has become a bit of a political football,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. “We’ve made it super-clear” to the House and Senate leadership that if the Chips Act funding is not approved, “I will change my plans” to invest $20 billion in Ohio to build two Intel semiconductor fabs on a 1,000-acre campus just east of Columbus (see 2201210041), Gelsinger told a Washington Post webinar Tuesday. The Europeans "have moved forward very aggressively” on a package of incentives for the semiconductor industry that's in "the final stages of approval," said Gelsinger. “I think it’s embarrassing that the U.S. started this process a full year before the Europeans, and the complex, 27-member-state Europeans have moved forward more rapidly. It’s just implausible.” Intel is emphasizing to House and Senate leaders that "there are real-time consequences" if the Chips Act funding "doesn't pass," said Gelsinger. "I will make the decision to delay our project in Ohio. We're going to go ahead in Ohio, but the speed and the size is dependent on U.S. industrial policy to make this happen, and that's embodied in the Chips Act."
U.S. linear TV ad spending will grow 4.1% to $68.4 billion this year, then trail downward over the next few years to $64.9 billion in 2026, with a slight bump in 2024 due to the presidential election and Summer Olympics, said a June eMarketer report. TV ad spending won’t return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels through the 2026 forecast period “and most likely it never will," it said. "The golden age of traditional TV advertising is behind us."