A Maryland lawmaker wants more chips made in Prince George’s County — microchips.
In this case, the U.S. government is prioritizing the production of semiconductors for microchips in the years to come through billions of dollars of federal incentives.
Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America, or the CHIPS Act, provided for tens of billions of dollars in incentives for companies to research, develop and manufacture microchips, which are used in everything from computers, phones, to your new car.
Since it passed and was signed into law by President Joe Biden, companies, such as Micron, Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries, have announced plans to invest in the manufacturing side as part of an effort to shorten supply chains, compete with Chinese manufacturing and harness technologies of the future.
At-large Council member Mel Franklin thinks Prince George’s County is uniquely suited to help make that happen from beginning to end.
“Prince George’s County needs become a national leader in the production of computer chips,” Franklin said. “It is one of the most cutting-edge things that we as a nation are doing.”
If Franklin’s bill passes, it would offer companies doing computer chip research, development and manufacturing in Prince George’s County a 10-year reimbursement of the amount that they pay in real estate, business and personal property taxes.
With computer sciences taking off at the University of Maryland and spawning new companies involved in technology as students graduate, Franklin is hoping to keep those startups in the county. But he believes there’s plenty of room for manufacturing too.
“We have the large amount of industrial space here in the county,” Franklin said. “So it gives us the opportunity to do all of the above, maybe in ways that other jurisdictions that are more congested and more built out can’t do. So we want to take advantage of that opportunity.”
Franklin said that even with the reimbursements, in the short term, “people will reap the indirect benefits … the jobs, the other businesses that will want to be here to be connected to those companies that are doing computer chip development and manufacturing.”
But he said long-term, the county will benefit even more.
“A lot of their investment is going to go way above and beyond their property, and that property tax bill,” Franklin said. “All of that spending is going to happen and help grow our economy. All of those jobs are going to happen here and help grow our economy. And then, it’s a 10-year incentive. So once that 10 years expire, the full amount of that business’ economic activity will benefit our tax base and our economy.”
The head of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, which aims to lure new business to the county, said that he’s still evaluating the bill. However, in a statement, David Iannucci, the president and CEO of the PGCEDC hinted support for the measure.
“Prince George’s County believes there will be a great opportunity to successfully secure some of the $11B that will be available for the research and development component of the CHIPS Act,” Iannucci said in a statement. “Our region has one of largest concentrations of quantum engineers and computer scientists in the country, and the University of Maryland is already one of the largest recipients of federal funding in quantum. We look forward to working with our internal and external stakeholders on this exciting opportunity.”
Franklin said he engaged with the county’s chamber of commerce, as well as the technology community, before he introduced the measure. He sees this as an opportunity to improve the county’s standing in the technology realm.
“In the past, we haven’t really put a large amount of money behind the idea of developing this part of the economy, and we need to,” said Franklin. “Other jurisdictions in the region had been much more successful in the IT space than we have and we need to turn that around.”
