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Commerce Dept notifies Congress on final awards

Talks a sign progress made amid concerns of slow rollout

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Rush to secure funds before Trump takes office

(Updates to add TSMC in paragraph 1 and detail on delays)

By David Shepardson, Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) -

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM ),

GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) and at least one other chipmaker are

poised to receive their final Chips and Science Act awards from

the Biden administration, two people briefed on the matter said.

The U.S. Commerce Department recently notified Congress at

least three companies are close to receiving a final award, one

of the people briefed on the matter and another source familiar

with the negotiations said. Under the Chips Act, the Commerce

Secretary must notify appropriate committees at least 15 days

before making any deal over $10 million.

The notification is a sign of progress amid concern about

the pace of the award rollout.

TSMC, GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) and the unidentified third company

are among 21 awarded about $37 billion in preliminary agreements

through the bipartisan 2022 Chips and Science Act, aimed at

luring chipmakers out of Asia to expand production in the U.S.

So far, only one has been finalized and announced. It went to

Polar Semiconductor for $123 million to expand and modernize a

chip fab in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Reuters could not determine the timing of the award

announcements or the exact amount, though it is expected to be

close to the initial sum.

In April TSMC's U.S. unit was awarded a $6.6 billion subsidy

for advanced semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona, in a

preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department.

In February, GlobalFoundries ( GFS )

was awarded

$1.5 billion to build a new semiconductor production

facility in Malta, New York, and expand existing operations

there and in Burlington, Vermont.

The fact that Congress has been notified of at least three

deals shows the Biden administration is making headway on final

terms, amid growing concern among award recipients that

Republican Donald Trump could scuttle the grants when he becomes

president. Reuters could not determine if the other company

closed its deal.

TSMC and GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) declined to comment.

A Commerce department spokesperson decline to comment on

TSMC and GlobalFoundries ( GFS ), but said: "Per statute,

the congressional notification is a routine part of the Chips

Program Office process and doesn't indicate that the award terms

are final."

POSSIBLE REPEAL

In October, Trump described the Chips Act as "so bad,"

during an episode of Joe Rogan's podcast. "We put up billions of

dollars for rich companies," he said.

"When I see us paying a lot of money to have people

build chips, that's not the way," Trump said. "You didn't have

to put up 10 cents. You could have done it with a series of

tariffs. In other words, you tariff it so high that they will

come and build their chip companies for nothing."

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to open

the door to repealing the Act when a reporter asked him last

week if Republicans would seek to repeal the law if they had a

majority.

"I expect that we probably will, but we haven't

developed that part of the agenda yet," Johnson said, before

walking it back by later saying he misheard the question.

Blowback from community groups over the Polar

Semiconductor award, including an alleged lack of transparency

over labor, environmental and chemical components of the final

deal, prompted the administration to hold off releasing the rest

of the final awards until after the election, said two sources

familiar with the inner workings of the negotiations.

Childcare and labor provisions in the deals have also

taken time to negotiate, companies involved in the discussions

said.

Still, companies want to complete their deals. Intel ( INTC ),

which is waiting

on $8.5 billion in grants

, told Reuters in a statement: "We will continue to do our

part and urge the Department of Commerce to accelerate and

streamline the process to meet our collective goal to create a

globally competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem."