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The Chips & Science Act was a bipartisan law passed to provide $52 billion for the U.S. semiconductor industry. It was created in the name of ensuring national security and a secure supply chain for critical electronics goods at a time when relations with China were frosty.
The act became law in part because it promised to bring high-value jobs back to the United States, decades after those jobs left for low-cost areas in Asia. But Donald Trump is president-elect now and the Republicans are firmly in control of the federal government. We’ll soon find out if the love for electronics, chips and the jobs they bring is still there.
Under Trump, new leaders have been tapped such as Vivek and Elon Musk to cut government spending via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Will they continue to support the Chips & Science Act? And do they see the value of investing in semiconductor factories further with a second act to finish the job of completing the chip factories that have been started?
To answer these questions, I did an interview with Scott Almassy, a partner with consulting and accounting firm PwC. He has been running the company’s semiconductor practice for a long time during his 20-year stint at PwC. For that job, he has had to stay on top of the intricacies of the chip business, not only from the view of Silicon Valley but also in places like South Korea.
Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
Scott Almassy is a partner in charge of chip coverage at PwC.
VentureBeat: Could you start with some of your background?
Scott Almassy: I’m a partner with PwC. Obviously we’re one of the large accounting and advisory firms. I’ve been here 20 years. Currently I’m our U.S. semiconductor leader. Our business is split between audit and advisory, audit being assurance, public companies, capital markets, audit opinions, and then advisory is consulting. I sit over both of those, but I’m an audit partner by background. In my 2 …