The so-called CHIPS Act was one of the great corporate welfare boondoggles of all time. No one fought against it and exposed its failures more than we did. Alas, many Republicans bought into the “industrial policy” swindle.

We were thrilled when President Trump came out swinging against it:

“Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn’t mean a thing.”

Semafor’s Technology newsletter predicts that Trump’s attack makes it “more likely that the $52 billion CHIPS Act, aimed at bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the US, is doomed.”

Instead, Trump wants to create new ways to make next-generation semiconductors in the U.S.  This week, he announced that Taiwan Semiconductor will invest $100 billion in a new Arizona plant.

It’s an iron law of economics and politics: the more that the government subsidizes an industry, the more money it loses.