Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced last month's staffing of the new Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America offices, saying the hires bring decades of experience to support the nation's semiconductor industry, according to a department news release.
In its Sept. 20 news release, the Commerce Department announced executives and staff have been hired to implement the CHIPS and Science Act's $50 billion investment in the semiconductor industry.
"After outlining a thoughtful and comprehensive strategy for CHIPS for America, we are wasting no time building an office with experts and leaders who will efficiently execute this work," Raimondo said in the release. "These leaders bring decades of experience in government, industry and the R&D space, with a special emphasis on standing up and implementing large-scale programs. Their work will be essential to bolstering our supply chains, spurring historic investments in research, strengthening our national security and creating good-paying jobs for the American people."
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
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Among the news hires announced Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji, the White House coordinator for CHIPS Implementation who has been Commerce's chief economist since April 2021.
In his new role, Chatterji will manage work of the CHIPS Implementation Steering Council, as laid out in President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on CHIPS Implementation. Chatterji also will work closely with the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Commerce and the Steering Council to ensure effective interagency coordination.
Chatterji is part of the leadership team that "brings enormous experience and skill to the cross-agency implementation effort already under way," said National Economic Council Director Brian Deese in the news release.
"In his role at the White House, Ronnie will help coordinate a unified approach to our key implementation priorities while ensuring that we have guardrails and oversight in place to responsibly spend taxpayer dollars," Deese said.
Other hires include Michael Schmidt as CHIPS Program Office director, Eric Lin as CHIPS Research and Development Office interim director, Todd Fisher as CHIPS Program Office interim senior adviser, Donna Dubinsky as senior counselor to the secretary for CHIPS implementation and J.D. Grom as senior adviser to the secretary on CHIPS implementation.
The executive roles for CHIPS for America will be based at the White House and at the Commerce Department.
In a news story published in August, Scientific American reported that the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 includes almost $53 billion to encourage domestic semiconductor chips production and research and development that likely will affect fields well beyond the semiconductor industry.
