U.S. President Joe Biden touted on Tuesday increased American investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, hailing a recently-announced $300 million expansion of a South Korean-owned facility in the Midwest.
Speaking at the SK Siltron's CSS facility in Bay City, Michigan, the president continued to push his economic agenda, saying the foreign firm is a "first-rate operation, and they're going to create a lot of good-paying jobs here."
The company is expected to quadruple its production at the facility, which primarily makes semiconductor wafers for electric vehicles.
Biden noted that the U.S. was the country that first invented the computer chip and at its height produced 30% of all chips worldwide but said the nation "got lazy" and began outsourcing production, hollowing out "the backbone of our economy."
"Companies began moving jobs overseas instead of product overseas, because it was cheaper for them," he said. "Instead of relying on chips made overseas in places like China, the supply chain for those chips will be here in America, in Michigan. It's a game changer."
SK Group is expected to invest $50 billion in the U.S., particularly to bolster its production of electric vehicle batteries, biotechnology and semiconductors, according to the White House. The investments are expected to result in the creation of 16,000 new jobs.
