President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a multi-billion-dollar bipartisan bill aimed at boosting semiconductor production and research in an effort to make the US more competitive with China.
"The future of the chip industry is going to be made in America," Mr Biden said at a signing ceremony on the White House South Lawn.
"It means unleashing the next generation of American innovation. It means building more secure supply chains, and protecting American global leadership and values."
Mr Biden said he visited a Lockheed Martin facility where Javelin missiles were made and said the CHIPS and Science Act would make the US less reliant on other nations to provide the technology needed for those weapon systems.
“Unfortunately, we produce zero per cent of these advanced chips and China is trying to move way ahead of us to manufacture these sophisticated chips as well,” he said.
The White House sees the bill as crucial to countering China and ensure that the US maintains its competitiveness against Beijing. The legislation provides $52.7 billion for semiconductor research, development, manufacturing and workplace development, the White House said.
"It's a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself," Mr Biden said.
Before the ceremony, leading US chip manufacturer Micron announced a $40bn investment in memory chip manufacturing that would be used for computers and other electronics. Qualcomm and Global Foundries announced a new partnership that would include a $4.2bn investment at a facility in upstate New York.
Tuesday's signing ceremony was one of several scheduled since Mr Biden tested negative for Covid-19 on Saturday. Mr Biden appeared to be dealing with some residual symptoms, coughing heavily during his remarks.
The White House said Mr Biden tested negative for Covid-19 again on Tuesday morning.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Who is Tim-Berners Lee?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists. Both his mother, Mary Lee, and father, Conway, were early computer scientists who worked on the Ferranti 1 - the world's first commercially-available, general purpose digital computer. Sir Tim studied Physics at the University of Oxford and held a series of roles developing code and building software before moving to Switzerland to work for Cern, the European Particle Physics laboratory. He developed the worldwide web code as a side project in 1989 as a global information-sharing system. After releasing the first web code in 1991, Cern made it open and free for all to use. Sir Tim now campaigns for initiatives to make sure the web remains open and accessible to all.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Profile
Company name: Marefa Digital
Based: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre
Number of employees: seven
Sector: e-learning
Funding stage: Pre-seed funding of Dh1.5m in 2017 and an initial seed round of Dh2m in 2019
Investors: Friends and family
More from UAE Human Development Report:
