It was reported on November 18 that the shortage of computer chips has exhausted the energy of the global economy. Industries from automobile manufacturers to medical device manufacturers have been hit hard, and exacerbated people's concerns about high inflation. But many U.S. states and cities are beginning to see a glimmer of hope: efforts to significantly increase U.S. chip production may restore the former glory of chip factories in their backyard, and these cities are scrambling to take a share of the potential prosperity. A typical city is Taylor, a small city with a population of about 17000, which is about 40 minutes' drive northeast of Austin. Local government officials are going all out to strive for the landing of a factory with an investment of US $17 billion from Samsung Electronics in South Korea. Samsung plans to start building the plant in the United States early next year. Taylor City, its school district and the county plan to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of economic incentives to Samsung, including tax rebates. The community also arranged for water to be piped from neighboring counties to meet the needs of the factory. Taylor's example is not uncommon. Officials in Arizona and Denise County in northern New York are also trying to win Samsung's favor. The same is true of officials in Travis County near Austin. Samsung has built a factory in Austin. Samsung said in a document that all three places "provided attractive property tax relief" and provided funds for factory infrastructure construction. Congress is considering whether to provide subsidies to manufacturers of chips in the United States. No one knows where Samsung's factory will be built. The company said it was still weighing the final site and was likely to announce its decision at any time. The federal government urged Samsung and other companies to build new factories in the United States, saying it was a top economic and national security priority. Samsung is one of the largest high-tech parts manufacturers in the world. Intel broke ground on two new factories in Arizona in September and may announce the location of the planned new manufacturing park by the end of this year. It may just be a warm-up show. The U.S. Senate passed a bill this year, which will provide $52 billion in subsidies to chip manufacturers this year. This plan is supported by the Biden government, which will be Washington's largest investment in industrial policy in decades. The US House of Representatives has not considered this issue, but the nine governors said in a letter to congressional leaders that the fund would "provide new and powerful tools for the economic development of our states". In Taylor's view, even the possibility of Samsung factory landing also brings hope. Business owners say it will bring more customers to local breweries and quiet downtown. Parents believe that the cutting-edge assembly line of the factory will inspire high school students in the town. A real estate agent said that residents believe that land prices will rise rapidly. In terms of this possibility alone, local land prices have risen slightly in recent months. "Things like this can be a shot in the arm," said Ian Davis, chief executive of the Texas beer company, which opened a pub in downtown Taylor five years ago. The semiconductor industry generated nearly $450 billion in revenue in 2020, but the vast majority of semiconductors are manufactured in Asia Pacific regions such as China and South Korea, and the United States controls only 12% of global production. Members of Congress said the shortage of chips showed that the limited role of the United States in the industry led to a dangerous situation for the national economy. Politicians also worry that the loss of control over semiconductor production may put the United States at a technological disadvantage in the face of competition. But the city's efforts to attract factories raise the question of how far communities should go and how much taxpayer money they should provide as subsidies in order to get a share of the high-tech economy. Chandler, Arizona, approved a $30 million water and road improvement project to support Intel's ground breaking plant in September. Phoenix will spend about $200 million on infrastructure to support the new plant of TSMC, another major chip manufacturer. When the company announced the plant in 2020, it said subsidies were crucial to its plan. Critics of corporate tax incentives say the money can be better used for basic infrastructure and public schools. They say cities may be spending taxpayers' money unnecessarily because factors such as the availability of talent and natural resources are more important to chip manufacturers than subsidies. They believe that the city will eventually sacrifice the most important thing that a large industrial project can contribute, that is, taxes. Nathan Jensen, a professor of subsidy programs at the University of Texas at Austin, said: "it's obviously good to attract companies to build factories. The problem is, if you really give up a lot of benefits to attract companies to build factories, it may not be worth the loss." Many residents of Taylor say this is the price they need to pay to promote the revitalization of the city. Taylor, named after a railway executive, used to be a center for transporting cattle and cotton. But residents say Taylor's downtown has lost its vitality in recent decades. They tried to change this by attracting new small businesses to the city and renovating an old building. Another group turned the old high school in the town into a small business, including a restaurant and a pinball bar. The city makes a park in the center of the city more beautiful. Susan green, a local resident of Taylor, said: "this will exist indefinitely. It will bring great benefits to our city, especially our school." Austin mayor Steve Adler said that the subsidies Austin provided to Samsung in the 1990s had a positive impact on the city, which has grown rapidly in recent years. Tesla and Oracle recently moved their headquarters to Austin, where Facebook and apple have a lot of business. It is estimated that this city is the first choice for commercial real estate investment in the United States. Austin and its surrounding counties have negotiated with Samsung about the company's planned new plant. Adler said he hoped the city would be the best candidate for the settlement of Samsung's factory. Adler said of Samsung: "having them here will certainly bring great benefits to our cities and regions." However, pat Garofalo, local policy director of the American economic freedoms project, a liberal organization that criticizes large technology companies, said that the money is best spent on projects that can make a city attractive to all kinds of enterprises, such as building public schools, rather than attracting individual suitors. He said that manufacturers were aware of the "practical problems" caused by the shortage of semiconductors and "used this to take advantage of the desire of state and local officials to provide a lot of taxpayer money to attract factories". Vanessa Fuentes, a member of the Austin City Council, said that residents in her area were worried about being driven out of their homes or seeing corner stores replaced by expensive grocery stores. She said the city had the "upper hand" in dealing with technology companies and should ensure that any deal it concluded with technology companies was sufficient to meet the needs of existing residents. "Frankly, if it's not good enough, we don't need to do so because the risks posed by this growth may be too great, especially in housing," Fuentes said At Taylor, Samsung supporters believe that if they get the project, they can deal with these concerns. "It's true that the traffic will become more crowded and real estate prices will rise, but I think it will also help create jobs," Davis said In order to make the deal more attractive, Davis recently proposed another bait to the chip manufacturer at a public meeting: he will brew Samsung light beer. "I think that 5000 construction workers patronize all these small businesses every day. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages," he said (Xinhua News Agency)