Congress quietly expands semiconductor tax credits to materials suppliers
S. 1642 — SEMI Investment Act · Filed by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced May 7, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill expands a federal tax credit for advanced manufacturing to include companies that produce semiconductor materials—both materials physically built into chips (like substrates and thin films) and specialized materials used in chip production (like process chemicals and photolithography materials). The IRS and Commerce Department must publish a list of qualifying materials within 180 days and update it annually; companies can petition for interim rulings on unlisted materials. The credit applies to property placed in service after enactment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward expansion of an existing investment tax credit to cover semiconductor materials suppliers. It is not hidden, but it is narrowly targeted industrial subsidy legislation dressed in manufacturing-policy language.
What the text implies
- The 180-day IRS/Commerce list-publication requirement and annual updates create ongoing regulatory discretion over which materials qualify, potentially allowing political influence over which suppliers benefit.
- The 'petition for interim determination' pathway allows taxpayers to seek favorable rulings before materials are officially listed, creating asymmetric advantage for well-resourced companies with tax counsel.
- The credit applies retroactively to property 'placed in service after enactment,' potentially allowing companies to claim credits on investments already made if the bill passes quickly.
- Defining 'indirect production materials' broadly (process chemicals, photolithography, cleaning agents, etc.) captures suppliers far upstream in the supply chain, expanding the subsidy's reach beyond core semiconductor manufacturers.
- No sunset clause, revenue offset, or phase-out mechanism means this becomes a permanent tax expenditure, reducing federal revenue indefinitely.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
This bill is a targeted tax subsidy for semiconductor supply-chain companies with no offsetting public benefit, revenue requirement, or sunset clause. It reduces federal revenue available for public services while concentrating benefits on a narrow industry segment. The expansion is presented as industrial policy but functions as a direct corporate tax giveaway.
Who stands to gain
- semiconductor materials suppliers
- semiconductor equipment manufacturers
- specialty chemical companies serving semiconductor industry
- photolithography material producers
- semiconductor substrate manufacturers
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code Section 48D, Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, IRS (Secretary of the Treasury), U.S. Department of Commerce, Code of Federal Regulations Section 231.116, Semiconductor industry supply chain
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- May 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- May 7, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
16 lobbying clients named this bill on 25 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $60,660,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 95% of bills with at least one filing.
Marsha Blackburn, the sponsor, reported $133,620 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $54,660,000 on 3 filings
- American Chemistry Council — $2,570,000 on 1 filing
- Semiconductor Industry Association — $880,000 on 2 filings
- Semi — $470,000 on 1 filing
- Entegris — $440,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,711 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress quietly expands semiconductor tax credits to materials suppliers” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1642 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.