DFC head says agency could loan billions for reshoring
US government financing for projects to return critical supply chains to the country as part of coronavirus response efforts could reach tens of billions of dollars - and may include a projected $12 billion Taiwanese semiconductor plant, the head of US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) said.
DFC is talking to companies about reshoring the manufacturing of personal protective equipment, generic drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients, Chief Executive Adam Boehler said. He said letters of understanding for some initial projects could be signed within the next month.
The DFC and the Defense Department agreed this to jointly administer $100 million in supply-chain reshoring funds from the $2.3 billion coronavirus legislation passed in March.
The $100 million can be leveraged into “tens of billions of dollars” in loans by using it as a pool of capital similar to the US Treasury’s backing of Federal Reserve loan facilities, Boehler said. At that scale, the agency could participate in the financing of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd’s (TSMC) planned factory in Arizona.
The project is a centerpiece of the push to wrestle global technology supply chains back from China. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a major supplier to Apple, Qualcomm, and other major US tech firms. A financing package for TSMC would likely include private capital from the state of Arizona.
