DeSantis invests state funds in Florida's microchip, semiconductor manufacturing
“We cannot be captive” to countries like China, said DeSantis.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is more cognizant than other American leaders about the semiconductor crisis and China’s stranglehold of the industry.
As the limited availability of high-performance GPUs, computer processors and other electronics reaches crisis levels, DeSantis announced that he will invest state funds in microchip and semiconductor manufacturing in Florida so China could not “hold our supply chain hostage.”
The Chinese Communist Party steals America’s technology and is a threat to the semiconductor supply chain.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 5, 2022
I am investing funds to increase microchip and semiconductor manufacturing in Florida so that the CCP cannot hold our supply chain hostage. pic.twitter.com/ji1emvw7AG
“We have to start standing up as Floridians and Americans,” DeSantis began. “We cannot be captive. Key sectors of our economy should not be captive to some of these foreign nations, particularly outfits like the Communist Party of China. And then even when you have allies like Taiwan, how that could impact, if there was a disruption there, could throw a lot of this through the loop even more than we’ve seen over the past year and a half.”
“So the more we have this capacity within our own country but particularly within our own state here in Florida, the more opportunities there’s going to be for people and the more secure both our economic supply chains will be and our national security,” he said.
DeSantis’ press conference is a continuation of his December plan to confront China.
On Dec. 20, the Florida governor stated in a press release that he would “conduct a survey of all of the investments of the Florida Retirement System to determine how many assets the state has in Chinese companies.”
“If you look at how these major companies behave when faced with Chinese disapproval, they censor what the CCP tells them to censor and we see grovelling apologies,” DeSantis stated.
“Go back a generation, and the idea of the American elites was, ‘If we allow China into the WTO and give them most favoured nation status, that will make China more like us.’ This experiment has failed and it has endangered our nation’s national and economic security.”
“I would like the SBA to survey the investments that are currently being done,” he added. “When the legislature comes back they can make statutory changes to say that the Communist Party of China is not a vehicle that we want to be entangled with. I think that that would be something that would be very, very prudent. I also think that our country as a whole but certainly Florida would like to see more production and manufacturing re-shored and we would be a great place to do that.”
The release noted, “The actions taken today will further strengthen Florida’s fiscal footing and signal to those in corporate America who prop up a genocidal, authoritarian, imperialist regime that they will not do so with Floridians’ money.”
“For far too long, the Communist regime in China has attempted to infiltrate our financial and educational institutions,” said Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez. “I applaud Governor DeSantis’ efforts that will curb China’s investment in industries critical to our national security and protect Floridians from the dangers posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
On the same day last month, DeSantis condemned the imposition of vaccine passports, noting that the unvaccinated “should not have their rights, freedoms, or liberties restricted.”
DeSantis remains one of the most popular American conservative leaders, and is favoured to run for president in 2024.
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