Lots More on How CHIPS Act Money Got Awarded

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

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Tracy Alloway (0:10)

That's cool that they're all standing desks though.

Mackenzie Hawkins (0:12)

It is nice, yeah, they have a little switch on the right side. Because when I asked for a standing desk in New York, I got a platform that was maybe a quarter the size of my actual desk on which they put my computer.

Tracy Alloway (0:24)

The screens basically.

Mackenzie Hawkins (0:26)

Yeah, and I was like, this gives me no workspace.

Tracy Alloway (0:30)

Then you have to bend down if you want to use a notepad and paper.

Mackenzie Hawkins (0:33)

Yeah, so the DC desk definitely win on that front. I think San Francisco are maybe the same, but I haven't paid enough attention in other offices.

Tracy Alloway (0:41)

I want to try a standing desk one day, but I don't want to loom over Joe. It would be weird.

Joe Weisenthal (0:48)

I'm intimidated enough.

Tracy Alloway (0:51)

But I think I'd be annoyed if I was sat down and then someone was standing next to me. I don't know. I think it would feel weird.

Mackenzie Hawkins (0:56)

It is a little bit of a posturing thing, I think.

When I had a standing desk in New York, I would forget it existed for three weeks, and then I would make a whole show of standing for an entire day. People are like, you never stand. Why are you standing?

Joe Weisenthal (1:13)

I did a deadlift. One, two, three.

Tracy Alloway (1:15)

Hegemony. Barges.

Joe Weisenthal (1:20)

This is an after-school special, except.

Tracy Alloway (1:22)

I've decided I'm going to base my entire personality going forward on campaigning for a strategic pork reserve in the US.

Joe Weisenthal (1:28)

Where's the best squid ink pasta?

Tracy Alloway (1:30)

These are the important questions. Is it robots taking over the world?

Joe Weisenthal (1:33)

No, I think that in a couple of years, the AI will do a really good job of making the Odd Lots podcast.

And people will say, I don't really need to listen to Joe and Tracy anymore. We do have.

Tracy Alloway (1:45)

Cha-ching.

Joe Weisenthal (1:48)

Welcome to Lots More, where we catch up with friends about what's going on right now.

Tracy Alloway (1:52)

Because even when Odd Lots is over, there's always Lots More.

Joe Weisenthal (1:56)

And we really do have the perfect guest.

Tracy Alloway (2:02)

So we're talking about Chips, right? Chips.

Mackenzie Hawkins (2:04)

I hope so.

Joe Weisenthal (2:05)

Yeah.

Mackenzie Hawkins (2:05)

That's what I know about, so.

Joe Weisenthal (2:08)

How's it going, Mackenzie?

Mackenzie Hawkins (2:09)

I am doing well. How are you guys?

Joe Weisenthal (2:11)

Doing great.

Mackenzie Hawkins (2:12)

Yeah, I'm coming off of like the busiest month of Chips News ever.

Tracy Alloway (2:15)

You've had a lot of scoops, I feel like. I feel like I've seen your byline quite a lot.

Mackenzie Hawkins (2:20)

There have been a couple of busy weeks. And I'm, yeah, now I'm like recuperating, but unfortunately this is not, I mean, fortunately, but unfortunately for my sleep schedule, this is not a beat that really seems to ever rest.

Joe Weisenthal (2:31)

So is all the Chips Act money now dispersed? Like where are we? Cause that sort of feels like we're like at end of some stage here.

Mackenzie Hawkins (2:39)

I would say we're at the end of stage one. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo referred to it as the bottom of the second inning at a Semaphore event in DC recently.

The department has burned through about 85% of the direct grant funding that they set aside to convince semiconductor manufacturers to build more factories in the US. But that doesn't mean that the money's actually out the door. These are all preliminary agreements. There are seven agreements announced so far, and then there's three and a half billion set aside for this military chips program that we can get into. That all accounts for like 85% of the money is spoken for, nearly 85%.

But now all these companies are entering these months-long due diligence stages to actually reach a final term sheet. And then the money will only be dispersed when they hit key construction and production benchmarks. So it will actually take several years for all of the money to get out the door, and none of these companies have seen a single dime yet.

Tracy Alloway (3:36)

So we are speaking to our Bloomberg colleague, chips expert and reporter Mackenzie Hawkins. She's been on the show before, but we're trying to get an update on all these things. I'm gonna read some of the data semiconductor headlines, because again, going back to what I was saying earlier, there have been a lot of them kind of flying around, and it's sort of hard to keep track. But I think the one that is probably freshest in my mind is the Intel drama.