Jordan McGillis and Clay Robinson, in their article “Industrial Policy Comes to the Desert” (National Review, May 29), argue that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s success is attributable to Taiwan’s “relatively low labor costs, streamlined access to government favoritism, a performance-focused economic culture, and strong human-capital indicators.” And America lacks all four, they claim.
Rut as Rob Atkinson writes in a letter to the editors, we no longer lack government money thanks to the CHIPS Act.
Atkinson goes on to rebut each of the authors' main arguments, noting that it’s surprising to see free-market advocates put their wisdom ahead of the market. If the limitations they highlight are real, then firms won’t invest. If that’s the case, then governments will have spent no money. But given that the CHIPS program is already vastly oversubscribed, it seems that semiconductor firms are on to something.
Read the letter.
